Unilever (UL) Competitors

Haleon (NYSE:HLN) and Unilever (NYSE:UL) are both large-cap consumer goods companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Is HLN or UL a better dividend stock?

Haleon pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Unilever pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Haleon pays out 64.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unilever pays out 59.0% 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. Unilever is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is HLN or UL more profitable?

Haleon has a net margin of 12.86% compared to Unilever's net margin of 0.00%. Haleon's return on equity of 17.65% beat Unilever's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Haleon	12.86%	17.65%	8.58%
Unilever	N/A	N/A	N/A

Do analysts recommend HLN or UL?

Haleon presently has a consensus target price of $12.33, indicating a potential upside of 27.46%. Unilever has a consensus target price of $72.50, indicating a potential upside of 19.91%. Given Haleon's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Haleon is more favorable than Unilever.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Haleon	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73
Unilever	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Which has better valuation & earnings, HLN or UL?

Unilever has higher revenue and earnings than Haleon. Unilever is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Haleon, 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
Haleon	$14.35B	3.03	$1.84B	$0.39	24.79
Unilever	$65.76B	2.26	$6.22B	$3.49	17.32

Does the media prefer HLN or UL?

In the previous week, Unilever had 6 more articles in the media than Haleon. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Unilever and 10 mentions for Haleon. Unilever's average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat Haleon's score of 0.62 indicating that Unilever is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Haleon	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Unilever	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in HLN or UL?

6.7% of Haleon shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.7% of Unilever shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Unilever shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, HLN or UL?

Haleon has a beta of 0.23, indicating that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unilever has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Unilever beats Haleon on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.