Analyzing Blue Star Foods (NASDAQ:BSFC) & Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD)

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) and Blue Star Foods (NASDAQ:BSFC) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

18.8% of Blue Star Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Smithfield Foods shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 53.7% of Blue Star Foods shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares Smithfield Foods and Blue Star Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smithfield Foods	6.84%	15.55%	8.84%
Blue Star Foods	-82.34%	-134.60%	-66.98%

Risk and Volatility

Smithfield Foods has a beta of -0.44, suggesting that its share price is 144% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blue Star Foods has a beta of 1.71, suggesting that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Smithfield Foods and Blue Star Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smithfield Foods	1	0	5	0	2.67
Blue Star Foods	0	0	0	0	0.00

Smithfield Foods currently has a consensus target price of $31.50, suggesting a potential upside of 41.57%. Given Smithfield Foods’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Smithfield Foods is more favorable than Blue Star Foods.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Smithfield Foods and Blue Star Foods”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smithfield Foods	$15.53 billion	0.56	$987.00 million	$2.68	8.30
Blue Star Foods	$5.93 million	0.03	-$4.47 million	($0.03)	-0.03

Smithfield Foods has higher revenue and earnings than Blue Star Foods. Blue Star Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smithfield Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Smithfield Foods beats Blue Star Foods on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods, Inc. produces and markets a variety of fresh meat and packaged meats products both domestically and internationally. The Company operates in four segments: Pork, Hog Production, International and Corporate, each of which consists of a number of subsidiaries, joint ventures and other investments. The Pork segment consists mainly of its three wholly owned United States fresh pork and packaged meats subsidiaries: The Smithfield Packing Company, Inc. (Smithfield Packing), Farmland Foods, Inc. (Farmland Foods) and John Morrell Food Group (John Morrell). The Hog Production segment consists of the Company’s hog production operations located in the United States. On September 2012 (fiscal 2013), the Company acquired a 70% controlling interest in American Skin Food Group, LLC. Effective September 26, 2013, Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd merged with Smithfield Foods Inc, a producer and wholesaler of pork meat products.

About Blue Star Foods

Blue Star Foods Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates as a marine protein company in the United States and Canada. The company imports, packages, and sells refrigerated pasteurized crab meats and other premium seafood products. It sells its products primarily to food service distributors, as well as wholesalers, retail establishments, and seafood distributors under the Blue Star, Oceanica, Pacifika, Crab & Go, Lubkin's Coastal Pride, First Choice, Good Stuff, Coastal Pride Fresh, TOBC, and Little Cedar Farms brands. Blue Star Foods Corp. was formerly known as John Keeler & Co. Inc. The company is based in Miami, Florida.