Flowers Foods (FLO) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend HRL or FLO?

Hormel Foods currently has a consensus price target of $31.57, indicating a potential upside of 8.08%. Flowers Foods has a consensus price target of $22.67, indicating a potential upside of 5.08%. Given Hormel Foods' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Hormel Foods is more favorable than Flowers Foods.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hormel Foods	2 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.86
Flowers Foods	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.67

Is HRL or FLO more profitable?

Hormel Foods has a net margin of 6.52% compared to Flowers Foods' net margin of 4.70%. Flowers Foods' return on equity of 19.41% beat Hormel Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hormel Foods	6.52%	11.03%	6.38%
Flowers Foods	4.70%	19.41%	7.81%

Does the media favor HRL or FLO?

In the previous week, Hormel Foods had 1 more articles in the media than Flowers Foods. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Hormel Foods and 9 mentions for Flowers Foods. Hormel Foods' average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Flowers Foods' score of 0.46 indicating that Hormel Foods is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hormel Foods	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Flowers Foods	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HRL or FLO?

Flowers Foods received 47 more outperform votes than Hormel Foods when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.69% of users gave Flowers Foods an outperform vote while only 57.42% of users gave Hormel Foods an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hormel Foods	Outperform Votes 449 57.42%	Underperform Votes 333 42.58%
Flowers Foods	Outperform Votes 496 61.69%	Underperform Votes 308 38.31%

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

41.0% of Hormel Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.5% of Flowers Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Hormel Foods shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.4% of Flowers Foods shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, HRL or FLO?

Hormel Foods has higher revenue and earnings than Flowers Foods. Flowers Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hormel Foods, 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
Hormel Foods	$12.11B	1.32	$793.57M	$1.42	20.57
Flowers Foods	$5.09B	0.89	$123.42M	$1.14	18.92

Is HRL or FLO a better dividend stock?

Hormel Foods pays an annual dividend of $1.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Flowers Foods pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Hormel Foods pays out 79.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Flowers Foods pays out 84.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hormel Foods has raised its dividend for 59 consecutive years and Flowers Foods has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years.

Which has more risk and volatility, HRL or FLO?

Hormel Foods has a beta of 0.26, meaning that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flowers Foods has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hormel Foods beats Flowers Foods on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.