Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) and WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.
Profitability
This table compares Conagra Brands and WD-40's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Conagra Brands | 9.67% | 16.50% | 6.01% |
WD-40 | 12.30% | 33.97% | 14.82% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Conagra Brands and WD-40, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Conagra Brands | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2.22 |
WD-40 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Conagra Brands presently has a consensus target price of $35.4444, indicating a potential downside of 0.16%. WD-40 has a consensus target price of $353.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.46%. Given WD-40's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe WD-40 is more favorable than Conagra Brands.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
82.1% of Conagra Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of WD-40 shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Conagra Brands shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of WD-40 shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
Conagra Brands pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. WD-40 pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Conagra Brands pays out 48.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WD-40 pays out 60.9% 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. Conagra Brands has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and WD-40 has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Conagra Brands is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Volatility & Risk
Conagra Brands has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WD-40 has a beta of -0.05, suggesting that its share price is 105% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Conagra Brands and WD-40's gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Conagra Brands | $11.05 billion | 1.57 | $840.10 million | $2.28 | 15.57 |
WD-40 | $423.35 million | 10.33 | $55.91 million | $4.40 | 72.63 |
Conagra Brands has higher revenue and earnings than WD-40. Conagra Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WD-40, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Conagra Brands beats WD-40 on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.