Maple Leaf Foods (MFI) Competitors

Maple Leaf Foods (TSE:MFI) and Premium Brands (TSE:PBH) are both mid-cap consumer defensive companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, community ranking, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership and valuation.

Do analysts rate MFI or PBH?

Maple Leaf Foods currently has a consensus price target of C$29.93, suggesting a potential upside of 47.14%. Premium Brands has a consensus price target of C$103.11, suggesting a potential upside of 30.37%. Given Maple Leaf Foods' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Maple Leaf Foods is more favorable than Premium Brands.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maple Leaf Foods	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Premium Brands	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MFI or PBH?

Maple Leaf Foods received 120 more outperform votes than Premium Brands when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.98% of users gave Maple Leaf Foods an outperform vote while only 55.15% of users gave Premium Brands an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Maple Leaf Foods	Outperform Votes 538 64.98%	Underperform Votes 290 35.02%
Premium Brands	Outperform Votes 418 55.15%	Underperform Votes 340 44.85%

Which has more risk & volatility, MFI or PBH?

Maple Leaf Foods has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Premium Brands has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings and valuation, MFI or PBH?

Premium Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Maple Leaf Foods. Premium Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Maple Leaf 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
Maple Leaf Foods	C$4.85B	0.52	C$11.78M	C$0.09	226.00
Premium Brands	C$6.36B	0.55	C$113.20M	C$2.54	31.14

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MFI or PBH?

26.4% of Maple Leaf Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.9% of Premium Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 39.9% of Maple Leaf Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Premium Brands shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor MFI or PBH?

In the previous week, Premium Brands had 5 more articles in the media than Maple Leaf Foods. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Premium Brands and 2 mentions for Maple Leaf Foods. Premium Brands' average media sentiment score of 0.56 beat Maple Leaf Foods' score of 0.44 indicating that Premium Brands is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Maple Leaf Foods	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Premium Brands	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is MFI or PBH more profitable?

Premium Brands has a net margin of 1.78% compared to Maple Leaf Foods' net margin of 0.24%. Premium Brands' return on equity of 6.43% beat Maple Leaf Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Maple Leaf Foods	0.24%	0.75%	2.85%
Premium Brands	1.78%	6.43%	3.61%

Is MFI or PBH a better dividend stock?

Maple Leaf Foods pays an annual dividend of C$0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Premium Brands pays an annual dividend of C$3.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Maple Leaf Foods pays out 977.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Premium Brands pays out 133.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Premium Brands beats Maple Leaf Foods on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.