Herbalife Nutrition (NYSE:HLF) and The Kroger (NYSE:KR) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Herbalife Nutrition and The Kroger's top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Herbalife Nutrition | $4.88 billion | 1.34 | $311 million | $2.82 | 17.61 |
The Kroger | $122.29 billion | 0.21 | $1.66 billion | $2.20 | 15.25 |
The Kroger has higher revenue and earnings than Herbalife Nutrition. The Kroger is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Herbalife Nutrition, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Herbalife Nutrition and The Kroger, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Herbalife Nutrition | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3.00 |
The Kroger | 4 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 2.07 |
Herbalife Nutrition currently has a consensus price target of $57.40, indicating a potential upside of 15.59%. The Kroger has a consensus price target of $34.64, indicating a potential upside of 3.22%. Given Herbalife Nutrition's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Herbalife Nutrition is more favorable than The Kroger.
Profitability
This table compares Herbalife Nutrition and The Kroger's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Herbalife Nutrition | 6.64% | -103.36% | 17.02% |
The Kroger | 2.29% | 27.26% | 5.47% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
85.3% of Herbalife Nutrition shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.6% of The Kroger shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Herbalife Nutrition shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of The Kroger shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Risk and Volatility
Herbalife Nutrition has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Kroger has a beta of 0.36, suggesting that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Herbalife Nutrition beats The Kroger on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.