MEDIFAST (MED) Competitors

MEDIFAST (NYSE:MED) and Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Which has more volatility and risk, MED or LW?

MEDIFAST has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lamb Weston has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor MED or LW?

In the previous week, Lamb Weston had 47 more articles in the media than MEDIFAST. MarketBeat recorded 48 mentions for Lamb Weston and 1 mentions for MEDIFAST. Lamb Weston's average media sentiment score of 0.66 beat MEDIFAST's score of -0.59 indicating that Lamb Weston is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
MEDIFAST	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative
Lamb Weston	13 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	19 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher valuation and earnings, MED or LW?

Lamb Weston has higher revenue and earnings than MEDIFAST. Lamb Weston is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MEDIFAST, 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
MEDIFAST	$602.46M	0.25	$2.09M	$0.32	43.66
Lamb Weston	$6.45B	1.36	$357.20M	$2.09	30.03

Is MED or LW more profitable?

Lamb Weston has a net margin of 4.56% compared to MEDIFAST's net margin of 0.76%. Lamb Weston's return on equity of 28.08% beat MEDIFAST's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MEDIFAST	0.76%	2.00%	1.50%
Lamb Weston	4.56%	28.08%	6.47%

Do analysts recommend MED or LW?

MEDIFAST currently has a consensus price target of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 18.10%. Lamb Weston has a consensus price target of $65.70, indicating a potential upside of 4.68%. Given MEDIFAST's higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe MEDIFAST is more favorable than Lamb Weston.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MEDIFAST	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
Lamb Weston	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

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

95.5% of MEDIFAST shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.6% of Lamb Weston shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of MEDIFAST shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Lamb Weston shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Lamb Weston beats MEDIFAST on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.