Analyzing Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (NASDAQ:CRESY) & FMC (NYSE:FMC)

FMC (NYSE:FMC) and Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (NASDAQ:CRESY) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for FMC and Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A., as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FMC	4	8	2	0	1.86
Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A.	0	1	0	0	2.00

FMC currently has a consensus price target of $15.71, indicating a potential upside of 40.37%. Given FMC’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe FMC is more favorable than Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A..

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.9% of FMC shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.9% of Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of FMC shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 36.2% of Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

FMC pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. pays an annual dividend of $0.61 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. FMC pays out -1.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. pays out 27.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares FMC and Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A.”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FMC	$3.47 billion	0.40	-$2.24 billion	($19.98)	-0.56
Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A.	$887.72 million	0.77	$96.15 million	$2.22	4.84

Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. has lower revenue, but higher earnings than FMC. FMC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares FMC and Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FMC	-72.93%	10.53%	2.95%
Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A.	17.44%	7.21%	3.09%

Risk and Volatility

FMC has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. beats FMC on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FMC

FMC Corporation, an agricultural sciences company, provides crop protection, plant health, and professional pest and turf management products. It develops, markets, and sells crop protection chemicals that includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides; and biologicals, crop nutrition, and seed treatment products, which are used in agriculture to enhance crop yield and quality by controlling a range of insects, weeds, and diseases, as well as in non-agricultural markets for pest control. The company markets its products through its own sales organization and through alliance partners, independent distributors, and sales representatives. It operates in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A.

Cresud Sociedad Anónima, Comercial, Inmobiliaria, Financiera y Agropecuaria, an agricultural company, engages in the production of agricultural commodities in Brazil and other Latin American countries. The company operates through Agricultural Business, and Business Urban Properties and Investments segments. It is also involved in the management, development, and ownership of shopping malls, office buildings, and hotels; sale of grain derivatives, such as flour and oil; production and sale of crops, such as soybean, sugarcane, wheat, corn, oilseed, and sunflower, as well as sorghum and peanuts; and breeding, purchasing, and/or fattening of cattle for sale to slaughterhouses and supermarkets. In addition, it leases its farms to third parties for agriculture, cattle breeding, and seed production; and offers agricultural services. The company was incorporated in 1936 and is headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina.