Lancaster Colony (LANC) Competitors

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) and Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, community ranking, earnings and media sentiment.

Do analysts rate LANC or HRL?

Lancaster Colony currently has a consensus target price of $211.33, suggesting a potential upside of 14.38%. Hormel Foods has a consensus target price of $32.33, suggesting a potential upside of 6.45%. Given Lancaster Colony's higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Lancaster Colony is more favorable than Hormel Foods.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lancaster Colony	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
Hormel Foods	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of LANC or HRL?

66.4% of Lancaster Colony shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.0% of Hormel Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.5% of Lancaster Colony shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Hormel Foods shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, LANC or HRL?

Lancaster Colony has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hormel Foods has a beta of 0.31, meaning that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer LANC or HRL?

In the previous week, Hormel Foods had 4 more articles in the media than Lancaster Colony. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Hormel Foods and 12 mentions for Lancaster Colony. Lancaster Colony's average media sentiment score of 1.56 beat Hormel Foods' score of 1.20 indicating that Lancaster Colony is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lancaster Colony	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Hormel Foods	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LANC or HRL more profitable?

Lancaster Colony has a net margin of 8.26% compared to Hormel Foods' net margin of 6.75%. Lancaster Colony's return on equity of 19.51% beat Hormel Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lancaster Colony	8.26%	19.51%	15.19%
Hormel Foods	6.75%	10.95%	6.39%

Which has better valuation & earnings, LANC or HRL?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lancaster Colony	$1.90B	2.68	$158.61M	$5.69	32.47
Hormel Foods	$11.91B	1.40	$805.04M	$1.37	22.17

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in LANC or HRL?

Hormel Foods received 61 more outperform votes than Lancaster Colony when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.40% of users gave Lancaster Colony an outperform vote while only 57.31% of users gave Hormel Foods an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Lancaster Colony	Outperform Votes 390 62.40%	Underperform Votes 235 37.60%
Hormel Foods	Outperform Votes 451 57.31%	Underperform Votes 336 42.69%

Is LANC or HRL a better dividend stock?

Lancaster Colony pays an annual dividend of $3.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Hormel Foods pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Lancaster Colony pays out 66.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hormel Foods pays out 84.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Lancaster Colony has raised its dividend for 62 consecutive years and Hormel Foods has raised its dividend for 60 consecutive years.

Summary

Lancaster Colony beats Hormel Foods on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.