Head-To-Head Review: Ajinomoto (OTCMKTS:AJINY) and Nocera (NASDAQ:NCRA)

Nocera (NASDAQ:NCRA) and Ajinomoto (OTCMKTS:AJINY) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Nocera has a beta of 1.99, suggesting that its share price is 99% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ajinomoto has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Nocera and Ajinomoto, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nocera	1	0	0	0	1.00
Ajinomoto	0	1	0	0	2.00

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Nocera and Ajinomoto”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nocera	$13.63 million	0.36	-$2.84 million	($6.69)	-0.31
Ajinomoto	$10.05 billion	2.72	$463.80 million	$0.83	33.69

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

Profitability

This table compares Nocera and Ajinomoto’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nocera	-59.98%	-226.49%	-57.64%
Ajinomoto	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.3% of Nocera shares are held by institutional investors. 5.2% of Nocera shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ajinomoto beats Nocera on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nocera

Nocera, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and produces recirculating aquaculture systems for fish farms in Taiwan. The company also offers consulting, technology transfer, and aquaculture project management services to new and existing aquaculture management business services. In addition, the company sells signature seafood porridge bowl through its flagship bento box store. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

About Ajinomoto

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. engages in the seasonings and foods, frozen foods, and healthcare and other businesses in Japan and internationally. The Seasonings and Foods segment offers sauces and seasoning products under the AJI-NO-MOTO, HON-DASHI, Cook Do, Ajinomoto KK Consommé, Pure Select Mayonnaise, Ros Dee, Masako, Aji-ngon, Sazón, Sajiku, and CRISPY FRY names; and solutions and ingredients for foodservice and processed food manufacturers, processed foods, and restaurants, as well as industrial, retail, and other applications. This segment also provides instant noodles under the Knorr Cup Soup and YumYum names; coffee beverages under the Birdy and Blendy brands; powdered drink under the Birdy 3in1 name; MAXIM brand products; Chyotto Zeitakuna Kohiten brand products; and gift sets and office supplies comprising coffee vending machines, tea servers, etc. The Frozen Foods segment offers Chinese dumplings, cooked rice, noodles, desserts, shumai, processed chicken, and other products under the AJINOMOTO FRESH FROZEN, Bernardi, FRED’S, Golden Tiger, José Olé, LingLing, POSADA, and TAI PEI brands. The Healthcare and Other segment provides amino acids for applications in various industries, such as pharmaceuticals and foods; contract development and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical intermediates and active ingredients, aseptic fill finish services, etc.; personal care ingredients; and medical foods, crop services, etc. This segment also offers Ajinomoto Build-up Film, an interlayer insulating material for semiconductor packages; fundamental foods under the Glyna and Amino Aile names; sports nutrition supplements under the amino VITAL brand; and functional materials, such as activated carbon, release paper, etc. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.