Conagra Brands (CAG) Competitors

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) and Hershey (NYSE:HSY) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Is CAG or HSY a better dividend stock?

Conagra Brands pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Hershey pays an annual dividend of $5.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Conagra Brands pays out 137.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hershey pays out 50.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hershey has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Does the media favor CAG or HSY?

In the previous week, Conagra Brands had 8 more articles in the media than Hershey. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for Conagra Brands and 26 mentions for Hershey. Hershey's average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat Conagra Brands' score of 0.96 indicating that Hershey is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Conagra Brands	19 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hershey	15 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of CAG or HSY?

83.8% of Conagra Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.0% of Hershey shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Conagra Brands shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Hershey shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend CAG or HSY?

Conagra Brands currently has a consensus price target of $28.20, suggesting a potential upside of 6.44%. Hershey has a consensus price target of $162.50, suggesting a potential downside of 4.86%. Given Conagra Brands' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Conagra Brands is more favorable than Hershey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Conagra Brands	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.27
Hershey	5 Sell rating(s)	16 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.76

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CAG or HSY?

Hershey received 9 more outperform votes than Conagra Brands when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.98% of users gave Conagra Brands an outperform vote while only 50.88% of users gave Hershey an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Conagra Brands	Outperform Votes 596 57.98%	Underperform Votes 432 42.02%
Hershey	Outperform Votes 605 50.88%	Underperform Votes 584 49.12%

Is CAG or HSY more profitable?

Hershey has a net margin of 19.83% compared to Conagra Brands' net margin of 4.13%. Hershey's return on equity of 44.77% beat Conagra Brands' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Conagra Brands	4.13%	13.76%	5.70%
Hershey	19.83%	44.77%	15.14%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, CAG or HSY?

Hershey has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Conagra Brands. Hershey is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Conagra Brands, 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
Conagra Brands	$11.93B	1.06	$347.20M	$1.02	25.98
Hershey	$11.20B	3.09	$2.22B	$10.90	15.67

Which has more risk and volatility, CAG or HSY?

Conagra Brands has a beta of 0.18, indicating that its share price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hershey has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Conagra Brands and Hershey tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.