High Liner Foods (HLF) Competitors

Burcon NutraScience (TSE:BU) and High Liner Foods (TSE:HLF) are both small-cap consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, BU or HLF?

High Liner Foods has higher revenue and earnings than Burcon NutraScience. Burcon NutraScience is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than High Liner 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
Burcon NutraScience	C$724.40K	978.83	-C$12.74M	-C$0.06	-50.09
High Liner Foods	C$660.88M	0.52	C$41.70M	C$2.82	5.80

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of BU or HLF?

0.2% of Burcon NutraScience shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.1% of High Liner Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 28.1% of Burcon NutraScience shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 44.3% of High Liner Foods shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend BU or HLF?

High Liner Foods has a consensus price target of C$21.25, suggesting a potential upside of 29.97%. Given High Liner Foods' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe High Liner Foods is more favorable than Burcon NutraScience.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Burcon NutraScience	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
High Liner Foods	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is BU or HLF more profitable?

High Liner Foods has a net margin of 6.31% compared to Burcon NutraScience's net margin of -1,758.62%. High Liner Foods' return on equity of 15.27% beat Burcon NutraScience's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Burcon NutraScience	-1,758.62%	-185.21%	-39.22%
High Liner Foods	6.31%	15.27%	5.30%

Does the media refer more to BU or HLF?

In the previous week, High Liner Foods had 5 more articles in the media than Burcon NutraScience. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for High Liner Foods and 1 mentions for Burcon NutraScience. High Liner Foods' average media sentiment score of 0.42 beat Burcon NutraScience's score of 0.25 indicating that High Liner Foods is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Burcon NutraScience	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
High Liner Foods	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility & risk, BU or HLF?

Burcon NutraScience has a beta of 2.9, indicating that its stock price is 190% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, High Liner Foods has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

High Liner Foods beats Burcon NutraScience on 14 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.