Contrasting Performance Food Group (NYSE:PFGC) & Metcash (OTCMKTS:MCSHF)

Metcash (OTCMKTS:MCSHF) and Performance Food Group (NYSE:PFGC) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Metcash and Performance Food Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Metcash	0	1	0	0	2.00
Performance Food Group	0	2	11	0	2.85

Performance Food Group has a consensus price target of $126.90, indicating a potential upside of 18.52%. Given Performance Food Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Performance Food Group is more favorable than Metcash.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

29.0% of Metcash shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.9% of Performance Food Group shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of Performance Food Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Metcash and Performance Food Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Metcash	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.19	9.32
Performance Food Group	$67.84 billion	0.25	$359.30 million	$2.29	46.76

Performance Food Group has higher revenue and earnings than Metcash. Metcash is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Performance Food Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Metcash and Performance Food Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Metcash	N/A	N/A	N/A
Performance Food Group	0.53%	15.15%	3.87%

Summary

Performance Food Group beats Metcash on 11 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Metcash

Metcash Limited operates as a wholesale distribution and marketing company in Australia. It operates through Food, Liquor, and Hardware segments. The Food segment distributes a range of products and services to independent supermarket and convenience retail outlets. The Hardware segment distributes hardware products to independent retail outlets; and operates company owned retail stores. The Liquor segment engages in the distribution of liquor products to independent retail outlets and hotels. It sells its products under the IGA, Foodland, Mitre 10, Home Hardware, Total Tools, Cellarbrations, IGA Liquor, and the Bottle-O brand names. Metcash Limited was founded in 1927 and is based in Macquarie Park, Australia.

About Performance Food Group

Performance Food Group Company, through its subsidiaries, markets and distributes food and food-related products in the United States. It operates through three segments: Foodservice, Vistar, and Convenience. The company offers a range of frozen foods, groceries, candy, snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and other tobacco products; beef, pork, poultry, and seafood; and health and beauty care products. It also sells disposables, cleaning and kitchen supplies, and related products. In addition, the company offers value-added services, such as product selection and procurement, menu development, and operational strategy. It serves independent and chain restaurants, schools, business and industry locations, hospitals, vending distributors, office coffee service distributors, retailers, convenience stores, theaters, hospitality providers, concessionaires, airport gift shops, college bookstores, corrections facilities, and impulse locations, as well as franchises and other institutional customers. Performance Food Group Company was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.