Hormel Foods (HRL) Competitors

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, community ranking and valuation.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HSY or HRL?

Hershey received 154 more outperform votes than Hormel Foods when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.31% of users gave Hormel Foods an outperform vote while only 50.54% of users gave Hershey an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hershey	Outperform Votes 605 50.54%	Underperform Votes 592 49.46%
Hormel Foods	Outperform Votes 451 57.31%	Underperform Votes 336 42.69%

Is HSY or HRL more profitable?

Hershey has a net margin of 19.83% compared to Hormel Foods' net margin of 6.75%. Hershey's return on equity of 44.77% beat Hormel Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hershey	19.83%	44.77%	15.14%
Hormel Foods	6.75%	10.95%	6.39%

Which has more risk & volatility, HSY or HRL?

Hershey has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hormel Foods has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HSY or HRL a better dividend stock?

Hershey pays an annual dividend of $5.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Hormel Foods pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Hershey pays out 67.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hormel Foods pays out 84.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hershey has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Hormel Foods has increased its dividend for 60 consecutive years. Hormel Foods is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend HSY or HRL?

Hershey currently has a consensus price target of $161.40, indicating a potential upside of 3.64%. Hormel Foods has a consensus price target of $32.33, indicating a potential upside of 7.24%. Given Hormel Foods' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hormel Foods is more favorable than Hershey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hershey	5 Sell rating(s)	15 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.75
Hormel Foods	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Does the media prefer HSY or HRL?

In the previous week, Hershey and Hershey both had 22 articles in the media. Hershey's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat Hormel Foods' score of 0.89 indicating that Hershey is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hershey	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hormel Foods	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of HSY or HRL?

58.0% of Hershey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.0% of Hormel Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Hershey shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Hormel Foods shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, HSY or HRL?

Hershey has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hormel Foods. Hershey is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hormel Foods, 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	$10.75B	2.93	$2.22B	$8.11	19.20
Hormel Foods	$11.91B	1.39	$805.04M	$1.37	22.01

Summary

Hormel Foods beats Hershey on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.