ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) versus Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Head to Head Survey

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for ARKO and Colgate-Palmolive, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ARKO	1	3	1	1	2.33
Colgate-Palmolive	1	5	10	0	2.56

ARKO presently has a consensus target price of $7.13, suggesting a potential upside of 41.09%. Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus target price of $88.75, suggesting a potential upside of 12.39%. Given ARKO’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe ARKO is more favorable than Colgate-Palmolive.

Risk & Volatility

ARKO has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colgate-Palmolive has a beta of 0.3, meaning that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

78.3% of ARKO shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Colgate-Palmolive shares are held by institutional investors. 22.5% of ARKO shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Colgate-Palmolive shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

ARKO pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Colgate-Palmolive pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. ARKO pays out 109.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Colgate-Palmolive pays out 58.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Colgate-Palmolive has raised its dividend for 63 consecutive years. Colgate-Palmolive is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ARKO and Colgate-Palmolive”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ARKO	$8.73 billion	0.06	$20.84 million	$0.11	45.91
Colgate-Palmolive	$20.10 billion	3.17	$2.89 billion	$3.57	22.12

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

Profitability

This table compares ARKO and Colgate-Palmolive’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ARKO	0.24%	6.95%	0.52%
Colgate-Palmolive	14.47%	333.39%	17.57%

Summary

Colgate-Palmolive beats ARKO on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ARKO

Arko Corp. operates convenience stores in the United States. It operates through Retail, Wholesale, Fleet Fueling, and GPMP segments. The Retail segment engages in the sale of fuel and merchandise to retail consumers. Its Wholesale segment supplies fuel to third-party dealers and consignment agents. The Fleet Fueling segment supplies fuel to proprietary and third-party cardlock, and issuance of proprietary fuel cards. Its GPMP segment supplies fuel to retail and wholesale segments. The company is based in Richmond, Virginia.

About Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells consumer products in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care; and Pet Nutrition. The Oral, Personal and Home Care segment offers toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, bar and liquid hand soaps, shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and antiperspirants, skin health products, dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, and other related items. This segment markets and sells its products under various brands, which include Colgate, Darlie, elmex, hello, meridol, Sorriso, Tom's of Maine, Irish Spring, Palmolive, Protex, Sanex, Softsoap, Lady Speed Stick, Speed Stick, EltaMD, Filorga, PCA SKIN, Ajax, Axion, Fabuloso, Murphy, Suavitel, and Soupline to a range of traditional and eCommerce retailers, wholesalers, and distributors. It includes pharmaceutical products for dentists and other oral health professionals. Its Pet Nutrition segment offers pet nutrition products for everyday nutritional needs under the Hill's Science Diet brand; and a range of therapeutic pet products to help nutritionally support dogs and cats in different stages of health under the Hill's Prescription Diet brand. This segment markets and sells its products through pet supply retailers, veterinarians, and eCommerce retailers. Colgate-Palmolive Company was founded in 1806 and is headquartered in New York, New York.