Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) & Campbell’s (NASDAQ:CPB) Head-To-Head Contrast

Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) and Campbell’s (NASDAQ:CPB) are both mid-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Dividends

Marzetti pays an annual dividend of $4.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Campbell’s pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Marzetti pays out 62.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Campbell’s pays out 77.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Marzetti has raised its dividend for 62 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.4% of Marzetti shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.3% of Campbell’s shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.1% of Marzetti shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 19.8% of Campbell’s shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Marzetti and Campbell’s, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marzetti	1	2	1	0	2.00
Campbell’s	8	11	0	0	1.58

Marzetti presently has a consensus target price of $169.33, indicating a potential upside of 49.22%. Campbell’s has a consensus target price of $21.20, indicating a potential downside of 8.03%. Given Marzetti’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Marzetti is more favorable than Campbell’s.

Risk & Volatility

Marzetti has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Campbell’s has a beta of 0.02, meaning that its share price is 98% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Marzetti and Campbell’s’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marzetti	9.06%	18.12%	14.01%
Campbell’s	6.12%	18.04%	4.74%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Marzetti and Campbell’s”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marzetti	$1.91 billion	1.63	$167.35 million	$6.39	17.76
Campbell’s	$10.25 billion	0.67	$602.00 million	$2.02	11.41

Campbell’s has higher revenue and earnings than Marzetti. Campbell’s is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marzetti, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Marzetti beats Campbell’s on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Marzetti

Lancaster Colony Corporation engages in the manufacturing and marketing of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Retail and Foodservice. The company offers frozen garlic bread under the New York BRAND Bakery; frozen Parkerhouse style yeast and dinner rolls under the Sister Schubert's brand; salad dressings under the Marzetti, Simply Dressed, Cardini's, and Girard's brands; vegetable and fruit dips under the Marzetti brand; croutons and salad toppings under the New York BRAND Bakery, Chatham Village, and Marzetti brands; and frozen pasta under the Marzetti Frozen Pasta brand. It also manufactures and sells other products to brand license agreements, including Olive Garden dressings, Buffalo Wild Wings sauces, and Chick-fil-A sauces. The company sells its products through sales personnel, food brokers, and distributors to retailers and restaurants. Lancaster Colony Corporation was incorporated in 1961 and is based in Westerville, Ohio.

About Campbell’s

The Campbell’s Company, formerly known as Campbell Soup Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Meals & Beverages and Snacks segments. The Meals & Beverages segment engages in the retail and foodservice businesses in the United States and Canada. This segment provides Campbell’s condensed and ready-to-serve soups; Swanson broth and stocks; Pacific Foods broth, soups, and non-dairy beverages; Prego pasta sauces; Pace Mexican sauces; Campbell’s gravies, pasta, beans, and dinner sauces; Swanson canned poultry; V8 juices and beverages; Campbell’s tomato juice; and snacking products in foodservice in Canada. The Snacks segment retails Pepperidge Farm cookies, crackers, fresh bakery, and frozen products, which include Goldfish crackers, Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels, Lance sandwich crackers, Cape Cod and Kettle Brand potato chips, Late July snacks, Snack Factory pretzel crisps, Pop Secret popcorn, and other snacking products. This segment is also involved in the retail business in Latin America. It sells its products through retail food chains, mass discounters and merchandisers, club stores, convenience stores, drug stores, and dollar stores, as well as e-commerce and other retail, commercial, and non-commercial establishments, and independent contractor distributors. The company was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.