Hormel Foods (HRL) Competitors

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking, earnings, valuation and risk.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in HSY or HRL?

58.0% of Hershey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.0% of Hormel Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Hershey shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Hormel 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.

Is HSY or HRL more profitable?

Hershey has a net margin of 19.83% compared to Hormel Foods' net margin of 6.75%. Hershey's return on equity of 44.77% beat Hormel Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hershey	19.83%	44.77%	15.14%
Hormel Foods	6.75%	10.95%	6.39%

Does the media refer more to HSY or HRL?

In the previous week, Hershey had 15 more articles in the media than Hormel Foods. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for Hershey and 23 mentions for Hormel Foods. Hormel Foods' average media sentiment score of 1.35 beat Hershey's score of 1.28 indicating that Hormel Foods is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hershey	29 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hormel Foods	19 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, HSY or HRL?

Hershey has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hormel Foods. Hershey 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
Hershey	$11.20B	2.96	$2.22B	$10.90	15.04
Hormel Foods	$11.91B	1.44	$805.04M	$1.37	22.83

Is HSY or HRL a better dividend stock?

Hershey pays an annual dividend of $5.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Hormel Foods pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Hershey pays out 50.3% 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. Hershey has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Hormel Foods has raised its dividend for 60 consecutive years. Hormel Foods is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, HSY or HRL?

Hershey has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hormel Foods has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HSY or HRL?

Hershey received 154 more outperform votes than Hormel Foods when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.38% of users gave Hormel Foods an outperform vote while only 50.88% of users gave Hershey an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hershey	Outperform Votes 605 50.88%	Underperform Votes 584 49.12%
Hormel Foods	Outperform Votes 451 57.38%	Underperform Votes 335 42.62%

Do analysts prefer HSY or HRL?

Hershey currently has a consensus target price of $162.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.86%. Hormel Foods has a consensus target price of $31.80, indicating a potential upside of 1.66%. Given Hormel Foods' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Hormel Foods is more favorable than Hershey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hershey	5 Sell rating(s)	16 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.76
Hormel Foods	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Summary

Hershey and Hormel Foods tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.