Comparing Glanbia (OTCMKTS:GLAPY) & Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY)

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) and Glanbia (OTCMKTS:GLAPY) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Lifeway Foods and Glanbia, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lifeway Foods	0	1	0	0	2.00
Glanbia	0	0	0	0	0.00

Lifeway Foods presently has a consensus price target of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.01%. Given Lifeway Foods’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Lifeway Foods is more favorable than Glanbia.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

36.4% of Lifeway Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 18.9% of Lifeway Foods shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Glanbia shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares Lifeway Foods and Glanbia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lifeway Foods	5.39%	14.20%	11.25%
Glanbia	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lifeway Foods and Glanbia”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lifeway Foods	$186.82 million	1.97	$9.02 million	$0.66	36.77
Glanbia	$3.84 billion	0.94	$164.70 million	N/A	N/A

Glanbia has higher revenue and earnings than Lifeway Foods.

Risk & Volatility

Lifeway Foods has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Glanbia has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lifeway Foods beats Glanbia on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lifeway Foods

Lifeway Foods, Inc. produces and markets probiotic-based products in the United States and internationally. Its primary product is drinkable kefir, a cultured dairy product in various organic and non-organic sizes, flavors, and types. The company offers European-style soft cheeses; cream and other products; ProBugs, a line of kefir products designed for children; drinkable yogurt; and fresh made butter and sour cream. It sells its products under the Lifeway, GlenOaks Farms, and Fresh Made brand names, as well as under private labels on behalf of customers primarily through direct sales force, brokers, and distributors. Lifeway Foods, Inc. was incorporated in 1986 and is based in Morton Grove, Illinois.

About Glanbia

Glanbia plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a nutrition company worldwide. The company offers sports nutrition and lifestyle nutrition products in various formats, such as powders, ready-to-eat bars and snacking food, and ready-to-drink beverage. It also manufactures and sells cheese, dairy, and non-dairy nutritional and functional ingredients; and vitamin and mineral premixes products. In addition, the company engages in the financing; research and development; property and land dealing; holding and management of receivables; property leasing; business services; management solutions; weight management; flavor solutions; and bioactive solutions businesses. It offers its products under the Optimum Nutrition, BSN, Isopure, Nutramino, SlimFast, think!, Amazing Grass, Body & Fit, and LevlUp brands. The company sells its products through specialty retail, online, gym, and food, drug, mass, and club channels. Glanbia plc was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Kilkenny, Ireland.