Comparing Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) and BellRing Brands (NYSE:BRBR)

BellRing Brands (NYSE:BRBR) and Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) are both mid-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

BellRing Brands has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marzetti has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for BellRing Brands and Marzetti, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BellRing Brands	2	5	12	0	2.53
Marzetti	0	3	1	0	2.25

BellRing Brands currently has a consensus price target of $38.88, suggesting a potential upside of 106.23%. Marzetti has a consensus price target of $188.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.97%. Given BellRing Brands’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe BellRing Brands is more favorable than Marzetti.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.0% of BellRing Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.4% of Marzetti shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of BellRing Brands shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.1% of Marzetti shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BellRing Brands and Marzetti”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BellRing Brands	$2.32 billion	0.95	$216.20 million	$1.45	13.00
Marzetti	$1.94 billion	2.33	$167.35 million	$6.53	25.26

BellRing Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Marzetti. BellRing Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marzetti, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares BellRing Brands and Marzetti’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BellRing Brands	7.88%	-64.79%	25.12%
Marzetti	9.25%	18.55%	14.39%

Summary

BellRing Brands beats Marzetti on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BellRing Brands

BellRing Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various nutrition products in the United States. The company offers ready-to-drink (RTD) protein shakes, other RTD beverages, powders, nutrition bars, and other products primarily under the Premier Protein and Dymatize brands. It distributes its products through club, food, drug, mass, eCommerce, specialty, and convenience channels. BellRing Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

About Marzetti

Lancaster Colony Corporation engages in the manufacturing and marketing of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Retail and Foodservice. The company offers frozen garlic bread under the New York BRAND Bakery; frozen Parkerhouse style yeast and dinner rolls under the Sister Schubert's brand; salad dressings under the Marzetti, Simply Dressed, Cardini's, and Girard's brands; vegetable and fruit dips under the Marzetti brand; croutons and salad toppings under the New York BRAND Bakery, Chatham Village, and Marzetti brands; and frozen pasta under the Marzetti Frozen Pasta brand. It also manufactures and sells other products to brand license agreements, including Olive Garden dressings, Buffalo Wild Wings sauces, and Chick-fil-A sauces. The company sells its products through sales personnel, food brokers, and distributors to retailers and restaurants. Lancaster Colony Corporation was incorporated in 1961 and is based in Westerville, Ohio.