Head to Head Comparison: Medifast (NYSE:MED) and USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA)

USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA) and Medifast (NYSE:MED) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

54.2% of USANA Health Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Medifast shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of USANA Health Sciences shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Medifast shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

USANA Health Sciences has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medifast has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for USANA Health Sciences and Medifast, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
USANA Health Sciences	2	0	0	0	1.00
Medifast	1	2	0	0	1.67

Medifast has a consensus price target of $12.00, suggesting a potential downside of 4.95%. Given Medifast’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Medifast is more favorable than USANA Health Sciences.

Profitability

This table compares USANA Health Sciences and Medifast’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
USANA Health Sciences	-2.43%	3.41%	2.50%
Medifast	-8.08%	-6.69%	-5.25%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares USANA Health Sciences and Medifast”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
USANA Health Sciences	$913.36 million	0.30	$10.76 million	($1.21)	-12.30
Medifast	$385.79 million	0.37	-$18.67 million	($2.33)	-5.42

USANA Health Sciences has higher revenue and earnings than Medifast. USANA Health Sciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Medifast, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Medifast beats USANA Health Sciences on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About USANA Health Sciences

USANA Health Sciences, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells science-based nutritional, personal care, and skincare products in the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe. The company offers USANA nutritional products that comprise essentials/CellSentials, such as vitamin and mineral supplements that provide a foundation of total body nutrition for various age groups; optimizers consisting of targeted supplements that are designed to meet cardiovascular, skeletal/structural, and digestive health needs; and food that include meal replacement shakes, snack bars, and other related products. It also provides Celavive, a skin care regimen for various skin care types and ethnicities; and other products for prenatal, infant, and young child age groups. In addition, the company offers materials and online tools to assist associates in building their businesses, as well as in marketing products. It offers its products through retail stores and online. The company has a research collaboration agreement with Beijing University of Chinese Medicine; and National Sports Training Bureau. USANA Health Sciences, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About Medifast

Medifast, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of weight loss, weight management, and healthy living products in the United States and the Asia-Pacific. It offers bars, puffs, cereal, crunchers, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serve, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes, and soups under the OPTAVIA, OPTAVIA ACTIVE, and Optimal Health brand names. The company markets its products through point-of-sale transactions, as well as through ecommerce platform. Medifast, Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.