Smithfield Foods (SFD) Competitors

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and media sentiment.

Is HSY or SFD more profitable?

Hershey has a net margin of 13.54% compared to Smithfield Foods' net margin of 0.00%. Hershey's return on equity of 37.36% beat Smithfield Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hershey	13.54%	37.36%	12.73%
Smithfield Foods	N/A	N/A	N/A

Do analysts recommend HSY or SFD?

Hershey currently has a consensus price target of $168.83, indicating a potential downside of 6.27%. Smithfield Foods has a consensus price target of $28.44, indicating a potential upside of 10.31%. Given Smithfield Foods' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Smithfield Foods is more favorable than Hershey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hershey	4 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.78
Smithfield Foods	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has higher earnings and valuation, HSY or SFD?

Hershey has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Smithfield Foods. Smithfield Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hershey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hershey	$11.20B	3.26	$2.22B	$7.53	23.92
Smithfield Foods	$14.14B	0.72	$892.36M	$2.27	11.36

Is HSY or SFD a better dividend stock?

Hershey pays an annual dividend of $5.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Smithfield Foods pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Hershey pays out 72.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Smithfield Foods pays out 44.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Hershey has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Smithfield Foods is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in HSY or SFD?

58.0% of Hershey shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Hershey shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Smithfield Foods shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor HSY or SFD?

In the previous week, Hershey had 9 more articles in the media than Smithfield Foods. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for Hershey and 31 mentions for Smithfield Foods. Hershey's average media sentiment score of 1.01 beat Smithfield Foods' score of 0.65 indicating that Hershey is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hershey	25 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Smithfield Foods	12 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Hershey beats Smithfield Foods on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.