Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) versus US Foods (NYSE:USFD) Head to Head Review

Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) and US Foods (NYSE:USFD) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.3% of Nomad Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.8% of US Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of US Foods shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Nomad Foods and US Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nomad Foods	4.43%	9.05%	3.61%
US Foods	1.71%	19.37%	6.14%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Nomad Foods and US Foods”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nomad Foods	$3.43 billion	0.42	$154.66 million	$1.03	10.02
US Foods	$39.42 billion	0.52	$676.00 million	$2.97	31.41

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Nomad Foods and US Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nomad Foods	1	2	3	0	2.33
US Foods	0	3	10	0	2.77

Nomad Foods presently has a consensus target price of $12.50, indicating a potential upside of 21.12%. US Foods has a consensus target price of $105.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.08%. Given Nomad Foods’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Nomad Foods is more favorable than US Foods.

Risk & Volatility

Nomad Foods has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, US Foods has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

US Foods beats Nomad Foods on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nomad Foods

Nomad Foods Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of frozen food products in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company offers frozen fish products, including fish fingers, coated fish, and natural fish; ready-to-cook vegetable products, such as peas and spinach; and frozen poultry and meat products comprising nuggets, grills, and burgers. It also provides meal products that include ready-to-cook noodles, pasta, lasagna, pancakes, and other ready-made meals; ice creams, such as in-home and out-of-home ice creams; and other products consisting of soups, pizzas, bakery goods, and meat substitutes. The company sells its products to supermarkets and food retail chains primarily under the Birds Eye, Green Cuisine, iglo, Findus, Aunt Bessie's, Goodfella's, Frikom, Ledo, La Cocinera, and Belviva brand names. Nomad Foods Limited was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Feltham, the United Kingdom.

About US Foods

US Foods Holding Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in marketing, sale, and distribution of fresh, frozen, and dry food and non-food products to foodservice customers in the United States. The company's customers include independently owned single and multi-unit restaurants, regional concepts, national restaurant chains, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels and motels, country clubs, government and military organizations, colleges and universities, and retail locations. The company was formerly known as USF Holding Corp. and changed its name to US Foods Holding Corp. in February 2016. US Foods Holding Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.