Darling Ingredients (DAR) Competitors

Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) and Medifast (NYSE:MED) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Is DAR or MED more profitable?

Darling Ingredients has a net margin of 1.85% compared to Medifast's net margin of 0.76%. Darling Ingredients' return on equity of 2.35% beat Medifast's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Darling Ingredients	1.85%	2.35%	1.05%
Medifast	0.76%	2.00%	1.50%

Does the media prefer DAR or MED?

In the previous week, Darling Ingredients had 5 more articles in the media than Medifast. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Darling Ingredients and 1 mentions for Medifast. Darling Ingredients' average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat Medifast's score of -0.59 indicating that Darling Ingredients is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Darling Ingredients	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Medifast	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative

Do analysts prefer DAR or MED?

Darling Ingredients currently has a consensus target price of $43.57, indicating a potential upside of 39.74%. Medifast has a consensus target price of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 18.41%. Given Darling Ingredients' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Darling Ingredients is more favorable than Medifast.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Darling Ingredients	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Medifast	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50

Which has more volatility and risk, DAR or MED?

Darling Ingredients has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medifast has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, DAR or MED?

Darling Ingredients has higher revenue and earnings than Medifast. Medifast is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Darling Ingredients, 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
Darling Ingredients	$5.72B	0.86	$278.88M	$0.66	47.24
Medifast	$480.45M	0.32	$2.09M	$0.32	43.55

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in DAR or MED?

94.4% of Darling Ingredients shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Medifast shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Darling Ingredients shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Medifast shares are held by company 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.

Summary

Darling Ingredients beats Medifast on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.