Reviewing Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL) and Unilever (NYSE:UL)

Unilever (NYSE:UL) and Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Unilever and Newell Brands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unilever	N/A	N/A	N/A
Newell Brands	-3.29%	8.48%	2.05%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Unilever and Newell Brands”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unilever	$65.76 billion	2.19	$6.22 billion	$3.49	16.85
Newell Brands	$7.58 billion	0.29	-$216.00 million	($0.59)	-8.85

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

Risk & Volatility

Unilever has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Newell Brands has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Unilever pays an annual dividend of $2.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Newell Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Unilever pays out 59.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Newell Brands pays out -47.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Newell Brands is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

9.7% of Unilever shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.5% of Newell Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Unilever shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Newell Brands shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Unilever and Newell Brands, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unilever	2	2	3	3	2.70
Newell Brands	0	4	4	0	2.50

Unilever currently has a consensus price target of $73.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.15%. Newell Brands has a consensus price target of $7.44, indicating a potential upside of 42.48%. Given Newell Brands’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Newell Brands is more favorable than Unilever.

Summary

Unilever beats Newell Brands on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Unilever

Unilever PLC operates as a fast-moving consumer goods company in the Asia Pacific, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through five segments: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream. The Beauty & Wellbeing segment engages in the sale of hair care products, such as shampoo, conditioner, and styling; skin care products including face, hand, and body moisturizer; and prestige beauty and health & wellbeing products consist of the vitamins, minerals, and supplements. The Personal Care segment offers skin cleansing products comprising soap and shower; deodorants; and oral care products, such as toothpaste, toothbrush, and mouthwash products. The Home Care segment is involved in the sale of fabric care products, including washing powders and liquids, and rinse conditioners; and fabric enhancers, and home and hygiene products. The Nutrition segment provides dressings products, such as mayonnaise and ketchup; sells scratch cooking aids consist of soups, bouillons, and seasonings; plant-based meat; beverages; and functional nutrition products, including Horlicks and Boost, as well as tea products. The Ice Cream segment offers ice cream products including in-home and out-of-home ice creams. The company provides its products under the AXE, Ben & Jerry's, Cif, Clear, Closeup, Comfort, Cornetto, Dermalogica, Domestos, Dove, Dove Men+Care, Hellmann's, Horlicks, Knorr, LUX, Lifebuoy, Liquid I.V., Magnum, Nutrafol, OMO, Paula's Choice, Pepsodent, Pond's, Rexona, Rexona, Sunlight, Sunsilk, Surf, TRESemmé, Vaseline, Wall's, Breyers, and Yasso brand names. Unilever PLC was founded in 1860 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About Newell Brands

Newell Brands Inc. engages in the design, manufacture, sourcing, and distribution of consumer and commercial products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Home and Commercial Solutions, Learning and Development, and Outdoor and Recreation. The Commercial Solutions segment provides commercial cleaning and maintenance solution products under the Rubbermaid, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Mapa, and Spontex brands; closet and garage organization products; hygiene systems and material handling solutions; household products, such as kitchen appliances under the Crockpot, Mr. Coffee, Oster, and Sunbeam brands; small appliances under the Breville brand name in Europe; food and home storage products under the FoodSaver, Rubbermaid, Ball, and Sistema brands; fresh preserving products; vacuum sealing products; and gourmet cookware, bakeware, and cutlery under the Calphalon brand; and home fragrance products under the WoodWick and Yankee Candle brands. The Learning and Development segment offers writing instruments, including markers and highlighters, pens, and pencils; art products; activity-based products; labeling solutions; and baby gear and infant care products under the Dymo, Elmer's, EXPO, Graco, NUK, Paper Mate, Parker, and Sharpie brands. The Outdoor and Recreation segment provides outdoor and outdoor-related products, inlcuding technical apparel and on-the-go beverageware under the Campingaz, Coleman, Contigo, and Marmot brands. It serves warehouse clubs, department and drug/grocery stores, mass merchants, home centers, commercial products distributors, specialty retailers, office superstores and supply stores, contract stationers, e-commerce retailers, and sporting goods, as well as direct to consumers online, select contract customers, and other professional customers. Newell Brands Inc. was founded in 1903 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.