Reviewing PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) and Arcadia Biosciences (NASDAQ:RKDA)

Arcadia Biosciences (NASDAQ:RKDA) and PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

17.7% of Arcadia Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.1% of PepsiCo shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.5% of Arcadia Biosciences shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of PepsiCo shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Arcadia Biosciences and PepsiCo, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arcadia Biosciences	1	0	0	0	1.00
PepsiCo	1	13	6	0	2.25

PepsiCo has a consensus target price of $149.30, suggesting a potential upside of 16.33%. Given PepsiCo’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe PepsiCo is more favorable than Arcadia Biosciences.

Profitability

This table compares Arcadia Biosciences and PepsiCo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arcadia Biosciences	-234.53%	-183.50%	-91.25%
PepsiCo	10.78%	54.63%	10.49%

Volatility & Risk

Arcadia Biosciences has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PepsiCo has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Arcadia Biosciences and PepsiCo”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arcadia Biosciences	$4.75 million	0.14	-$2.34 million	($4.56)	-0.06
PepsiCo	$96.90 billion	1.81	$8.24 billion	$7.63	16.82

PepsiCo has higher revenue and earnings than Arcadia Biosciences. Arcadia Biosciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PepsiCo, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

PepsiCo beats Arcadia Biosciences on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arcadia Biosciences

Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. produces and markets plant-based food and beverage products in the United States. The company develops crop improvements primarily in wheat to enhance farm economics by improving the performance of crops in the field, as well as their value as food ingredients. Its food, beverage, and body case products include GoodWheat, Zola coconut water, ProVault topical pain relief, and SoulSpring. The company was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc. engages in the manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of various beverages and convenient foods worldwide. The company operates through seven segments: Frito-Lay North America; Quaker Foods North America; PepsiCo Beverages North America; Latin America; Europe; Africa, Middle East and South Asia; and Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand and China Region. It provides dips, cheese-flavored snacks, and spreads, as well as corn, potato, and tortilla chips; cereals, rice, pasta, mixes and syrups, granola bars, grits, oatmeal, rice cakes, and side dishes; beverage concentrates, fountain syrups, and finished goods; ready-to-drink tea, coffee, and juices; dairy products; and sparkling water makers and related products, as well as distributes alcoholic beverages under Hard MTN Dew brand. The company offers its products primarily under the Lay’s, Doritos, Fritos, Tostitos, BaiCaoWei, Cheetos, Cap’n Crunch, Life, Pearl Milling Company, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, Rice-A-Roni, Aquafina, Bubly, Emperador, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Gatorade Zero, Crush, Propel, Dr Pepper, Schweppes, Marias Gamesa, Ruffles, Sabritas, Saladitas, Tostitos, 7UP, Diet 7UP, H2oh!, Manzanita Sol, Mirinda, Pepsi Black, Pepsi Max, San Carlos, Toddy, Walkers, Chipsy, Kurkure, Sasko, Spekko, White Star, Smith’s, Sting, SodaStream, Lubimyj Sad, Agusha, Chudo, Domik v Derevne, Lipton, and other brands. It serves wholesale and other distributors, foodservice customers, grocery stores, drug stores, convenience stores, discount/dollar stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, hard discounters, e-commerce retailers and authorized independent bottlers, and others through a network of direct-store-delivery, customer warehouse, and distributor networks, as well as directly to consumers through e-commerce platforms and retailers. The company was founded in 1898 and is based in Purchase, New York.