Nature’s Sunshine Products (NATR) and Its Peers Head to Head Analysis

Nature’s Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) is one of 55 public companies in the “Personal Care Products” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Nature’s Sunshine Products to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

79.4% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.9% of shares of all “Personal Care Products” companies are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.7% of shares of all “Personal Care Products” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nature’s Sunshine Products and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nature’s Sunshine Products	$492.02 million	$19.52 million	9.63
Nature’s Sunshine Products Competitors	$7.78 billion	$1.11 billion	8.53

Nature’s Sunshine Products’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Nature’s Sunshine Products. Nature’s Sunshine Products is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Nature’s Sunshine Products and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nature’s Sunshine Products	0	1	2	0	2.67
Nature’s Sunshine Products Competitors	896	2922	3646	228	2.42

Nature’s Sunshine Products currently has a consensus price target of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 157.07%. As a group, “Personal Care Products” companies have a potential downside of 0.72%. Given Nature’s Sunshine Products’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Nature’s Sunshine Products is more favorable than its competitors.

Volatility & Risk

Nature’s Sunshine Products has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nature’s Sunshine Products’ competitors have a beta of 0.81, indicating that their average stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Nature’s Sunshine Products and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nature’s Sunshine Products	3.68%	12.88%	8.17%
Nature’s Sunshine Products Competitors	-5.55%	-65.95%	-0.30%

Dividends

Nature’s Sunshine Products pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Nature’s Sunshine Products pays out 39.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Personal Care Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.7% and pay out 48.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Nature’s Sunshine Products is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Nature’s Sunshine Products beats its competitors on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Nature’s Sunshine Products

Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc., a natural health and wellness company, manufactures and sells nutritional and personal care products in Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and internationally. It offers general health products related to blood sugar support, bone health, cellular health, cognitive function, joint health, mood, sexual health, sleep, sports and energy, and vision. The company also provides immunity, cardiovascular, and digestive products; and personal care products, such as oils and lotions, aloe vera gels, herbal shampoos, herbal skin treatment, toothpaste, and skin cleansers, as well as weight management products. It offers its products under the Nature’s Sunshine and Synergy WorldWide brands through a sales force of independent consultants. Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Lehi, Utah.