United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI – Get Free Report) and NextPlat (NASDAQ:NXPL – Get Free Report) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.
Volatility & Risk
United Natural Foods has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NextPlat has a beta of 1.94, meaning that its stock price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for United Natural Foods and NextPlat, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| United Natural Foods | 1 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2.10 |
| NextPlat | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
87.6% of United Natural Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.3% of NextPlat shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of United Natural Foods shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 46.1% of NextPlat shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares United Natural Foods and NextPlat’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| United Natural Foods | 0.27% | 10.51% | 2.28% |
| NextPlat | -20.38% | -54.66% | -34.82% |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares United Natural Foods and NextPlat”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| United Natural Foods | $31.15 billion | 0.09 | -$118.00 million | ($0.66) | -66.75 |
| NextPlat | $54.32 million | 0.45 | -$10.46 million | ($3.67) | -2.45 |
NextPlat has lower revenue, but higher earnings than United Natural Foods. United Natural Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NextPlat, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
United Natural Foods beats NextPlat on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About United Natural Foods
United Natural Foods, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes natural, organic, specialty, produce, and conventional grocery and non-food products in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The company offers grocery and general merchandise, produce, perishables and frozen foods, wellness and personal care items, and bulk and foodservice products. It also provides nuts, dried fruit, seeds, trail mixes, granola, natural and organic snack items, and confections under the Woodstock Farms Manufacturing name; organic, non-GMO project verified, and specialty food and non-food items under the Blue Marble brand name; pet food under the WILD HARVEST brand name; and various products under the ESSENTIAL EVERYDAY, SHOPPERS VALUE, Field Day, EQUALINE, CULINARY CIRCLE, and STONE RIDGE CREAMERY brand names. In addition, the company provides home, health and beauty care, and pharmacy products, as well as private label products through a network of Cub Foods and Shoppers retail grocery stores; and retail store support, pricing strategy, shelf and planogram management, advertising, couponing, ecommerce, consumer convenience, store design, equipment sourcing, electronic payments processing, network and data hosting, point-of-sale hardware and software, automation tools, sustainability, and administrative back-office solution services. Further, it offers consumer and trade marketing programs, and programs to support suppliers in understanding its markets. The company serves chains, independent retailers, and supernatural chains, as well as foodservice, ecommerce, conventional military business, and other sales customers. United Natural Foods, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.
About NextPlat
NextPlat Corp operates as a healthcare and e-commerce company in Europe, North America, South America, the Asia and Pacific, and Africa. The company operates full-service retail specialty services pharmacies that provides prescription pharmaceuticals prescription pharmaceuticals, third-party administration, risk and data management services, compounded medications, tele-pharmacy services, anti-retroviral medications, medication therapy management, contracted pharmacy services, and health practice risk management to healthcare organizations and providers, as well as supplies prescription medications to long-term care facilities. It also offers COVID-19 related diagnostics and vaccinations, and medication adherence packaging; and value-added services, such as prior authorization assistance, same-day home-medication delivery, on site provider consultation services, primary care reporting and analytics, and customized packaging solutions, as well as acquires and leases an e-commerce platform to collaborate with businesses to optimize their ability to sell their goods online. In addition, it operates e-commerce websites, as well as third-party e-commerce storefronts that provides mobile satellite services solutions for satellite-enabled voice, data, personnel and asset tracking, machine-to-machine, and internet of things connectivity services; voice, data communications, internet of things (IoT), and machine-to-machine services; tracking and monitoring solutions and services; satellite communications products; and GPS enabled emergency locator distress beacons. Further, it offers satellite tracking devices used to monitor the location, movements, and history of anything that moves; SolarTrack, a compact, lightweight, IoT tracking device powered by the sun; and GTCTrack, a subscription-based mapping and tracking portal. The company was formerly known as Orbsat Corp. and changed its name to NextPlat Corp in January 2022. NextPlat Corp is based in Coconut Grove, Florida.
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