Financial Analysis: United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) and George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF)

George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) and United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

George Weston has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Natural Foods has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares George Weston and United Natural Foods”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
George Weston	$46.17 billion	0.57	$817.33 million	$2.08	33.53
United Natural Foods	$31.78 billion	0.10	-$118.00 million	($1.30)	-38.89

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.0% of George Weston shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.6% of United Natural Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 53.6% of George Weston shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of United Natural Foods shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares George Weston and United Natural Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
George Weston	1.74%	13.84%	3.42%
United Natural Foods	-0.25%	6.05%	1.27%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for George Weston and United Natural Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
George Weston	0	2	4	0	2.67
United Natural Foods	1	6	3	0	2.20

United Natural Foods has a consensus target price of $43.63, indicating a potential downside of 13.71%. Given United Natural Foods’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe United Natural Foods is more favorable than George Weston.

Summary

George Weston beats United Natural Foods on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About George Weston

George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services. This segment also offers credit card and other banking services, insurance brokerage services, guaranteed investment certificates, and wireless mobile products and services. The Choice Properties segment owns, operates, manages, and develops retail commercial and residential properties, leased to necessity-based tenants, industrial, and mixed-use and residential assets. It markets its products under the Shoppers Drug Mart, Joe Fresh, President’s Choice Bank, no name, Farmer’s Market, T&T, Life Brand, and PC Optimum brands. The company was founded in 1882 and is based in Toronto, Canada. George Weston Limited operates as a subsidiary of Wittington Investments, Limited.

About United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes natural, organic, specialty, produce, and conventional grocery and non-food products in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The company offers grocery and general merchandise, produce, perishables and frozen foods, wellness and personal care items, and bulk and foodservice products. It also provides nuts, dried fruit, seeds, trail mixes, granola, natural and organic snack items, and confections under the Woodstock Farms Manufacturing name; organic, non-GMO project verified, and specialty food and non-food items under the Blue Marble brand name; pet food under the WILD HARVEST brand name; and various products under the ESSENTIAL EVERYDAY, SHOPPERS VALUE, Field Day, EQUALINE, CULINARY CIRCLE, and STONE RIDGE CREAMERY brand names. In addition, the company provides home, health and beauty care, and pharmacy products, as well as private label products through a network of Cub Foods and Shoppers retail grocery stores; and retail store support, pricing strategy, shelf and planogram management, advertising, couponing, ecommerce, consumer convenience, store design, equipment sourcing, electronic payments processing, network and data hosting, point-of-sale hardware and software, automation tools, sustainability, and administrative back-office solution services. Further, it offers consumer and trade marketing programs, and programs to support suppliers in understanding its markets. The company serves chains, independent retailers, and supernatural chains, as well as foodservice, ecommerce, conventional military business, and other sales customers. United Natural Foods, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.