Lancaster Colony (LANC) Competitors

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

Do institutionals and insiders believe in LANC or THS?

66.4% of Lancaster Colony shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.8% of TreeHouse Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 29.5% of Lancaster Colony shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of TreeHouse Foods 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LANC or THS?

TreeHouse Foods received 100 more outperform votes than Lancaster Colony when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.29% of users gave TreeHouse Foods an outperform vote while only 62.74% of users gave Lancaster Colony an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Lancaster Colony	Outperform Votes 389 62.74%	Underperform Votes 231 37.26%
TreeHouse Foods	Outperform Votes 489 65.29%	Underperform Votes 260 34.71%

Is LANC or THS more profitable?

Lancaster Colony has a net margin of 8.49% compared to TreeHouse Foods' net margin of -0.41%. Lancaster Colony's return on equity of 19.01% beat TreeHouse Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lancaster Colony	8.49%	19.01%	14.80%
TreeHouse Foods	-0.41%	5.42%	2.17%

Which has more risk and volatility, LANC or THS?

Lancaster Colony has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TreeHouse Foods has a beta of 0.23, meaning that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor LANC or THS?

In the previous week, Lancaster Colony had 13 more articles in the media than TreeHouse Foods. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Lancaster Colony and 5 mentions for TreeHouse Foods. TreeHouse Foods' average media sentiment score of 0.42 beat Lancaster Colony's score of 0.01 indicating that TreeHouse Foods is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lancaster Colony	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
TreeHouse Foods	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts prefer LANC or THS?

Lancaster Colony currently has a consensus target price of $193.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.80%. TreeHouse Foods has a consensus target price of $38.40, indicating a potential upside of 2.05%. Given TreeHouse Foods' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe TreeHouse Foods is more favorable than Lancaster Colony.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lancaster Colony	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
TreeHouse Foods	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, LANC or THS?

Lancaster Colony has higher earnings, but lower revenue than TreeHouse Foods. TreeHouse 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	$1.87B	2.87	$158.61M	$5.78	33.75
TreeHouse Foods	$3.38B	0.59	$53.10M	-$0.27	-139.37

Summary

Lancaster Colony beats TreeHouse Foods on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.