Analyzing Edible Garden (NASDAQ:EDBL) and Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO)

Edible Garden (NASDAQ:EDBL) and Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Edible Garden and Flowers Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Edible Garden	-122.09%	N/A	-78.65%
Flowers Foods	1.06%	14.91%	4.72%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.0% of Edible Garden shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.5% of Flowers Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Edible Garden shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.2% of Flowers Foods shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Edible Garden and Flowers Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Edible Garden	1	0	1	0	2.00
Flowers Foods	3	3	0	0	1.50

Edible Garden currently has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3,847.37%. Flowers Foods has a consensus target price of $7.60, suggesting a potential upside of 36.32%. Given Edible Garden’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Edible Garden is more favorable than Flowers Foods.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Edible Garden and Flowers Foods”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Edible Garden	$12.81 million	0.12	-$17.33 million	($1,994.47)	-0.00
Flowers Foods	$5.26 billion	0.22	$83.82 million	$0.26	21.44

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

Risk & Volatility

Edible Garden has a beta of 1.74, indicating that its stock price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flowers Foods has a beta of 0.43, indicating that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Flowers Foods beats Edible Garden on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Edible Garden

Edible Garden AG Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, operate as a controlled environment agriculture farming company. It offers various packaged products, including cilantro, rosemary, mint, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, chives, poultry mix, sage, dill, buttercrunch living lettuce, basil, living butterhead lettuce, basil, parsley, arugula spring mix, baby arugula blend, baby romaine, and crisp ranch and Caesar salad kits. The company sells its products to various regional and national supermarkets. Edible Garden AG Incorporated was founded in 2020 and is based in Belvidere, New Jersey.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc. produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack items, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs. Freshley's, and Tastykake brand names. The company distributes its products through a direct-store-delivery distribution and a warehouse delivery system, as well as operates bakeries. Its customers include national and regional restaurants, institutions and foodservice distributors, and retail in-store bakeries; wholesale distributors; mass merchandisers, supermarkets, vending outlets, and convenience stores; quick-serve chains, food wholesalers, institutions, dollar stores, and vending companies; and public health care, military commissaries, and prisons, and other governmental institutions. The company was formerly known as Flowers Industries and changed its name to Flowers Foods, Inc. in 2001. Flowers Foods, Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia.