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 profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends and media sentiment.

Which has preferable valuation and 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	3.12	$1.84B	$0.39	25.54
Unilever	$65.76B	2.27	$6.22B	$3.49	17.41

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

Is HLN or UL a better dividend stock?

Haleon pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. 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.

Does the media favor HLN or UL?

In the previous week, Unilever had 14 more articles in the media than Haleon. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Unilever and 8 mentions for Haleon. Unilever's average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Haleon's score of 0.42 indicating that Unilever is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Haleon	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Unilever	19 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer HLN or UL?

Haleon presently has a consensus price target of $12.33, suggesting a potential upside of 23.74%. Unilever has a consensus price target of $70.67, suggesting a potential upside of 16.30%. Given Haleon's higher probable 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)	4 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Which has more risk & volatility, HLN or UL?

Haleon has a beta of 0.25, meaning that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unilever has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of HLN or UL?

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

Summary

Unilever beats Haleon on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.