McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) & Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Head-To-Head Contrast

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) and Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for McCormick & Company, Incorporated and Flowers Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	0	8	5	0	2.38
Flowers Foods	2	5	0	0	1.71

McCormick & Company, Incorporated currently has a consensus price target of $55.30, suggesting a potential upside of 17.81%. Flowers Foods has a consensus price target of $6.70, suggesting a potential upside of 7.29%. Given McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe McCormick & Company, Incorporated is more favorable than Flowers Foods.

Volatility and Risk

McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flowers Foods has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

McCormick & Company, Incorporated pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Flowers Foods pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.0%. McCormick & Company, Incorporated pays out 34.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flowers Foods pays out 192.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has increased its dividend for 38 consecutive years and Flowers Foods has increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares McCormick & Company, Incorporated and Flowers Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	19.39%	12.01%	5.46%
Flowers Foods	1.06%	14.91%	4.72%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

79.7% of McCormick & Company, Incorporated shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.5% of Flowers Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.6% of McCormick & Company, Incorporated shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.2% of Flowers Foods shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares McCormick & Company, Incorporated and Flowers Foods”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	$6.84 billion	1.85	$789.40 million	$5.53	8.49
Flowers Foods	$5.26 billion	0.25	$83.82 million	$0.26	24.02

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

Summary

McCormick & Company, Incorporated beats Flowers Foods on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About McCormick & Company, Incorporated

McCormick & Company, Incorporated manufactures, markets and distributes spices, herbs, seasonings, condiments and other flavor products. Its offerings include individual spices and herbs, seasoning blends, extracts, sauces and hot sauces sold under brands such as McCormick, French’s, Frank’s RedHot, OLD BAY and Cholula. The company serves consumers through retail stores and e-commerce, and supplies flavor products and solutions to food service businesses and food and beverage manufacturers. Its products are sold in markets around the world.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc. is a U.S. bakery company that produces and markets packaged breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes and other baked goods. Its products are sold under brands including Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder, Tastykake, Canyon Bakehouse and Mrs. Freshley’s. Founded in 1919 in Thomasville, Georgia, the company has grown from a local bakery into a national producer of baked goods. Flowers Foods serves consumers across the United States through grocery stores and other retail channels, using a mix of direct-store delivery and warehouse distribution.