Reviewing Calavo Growers (CVGW) & Its Peers

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) is one of 38 publicly-traded companies in the “AGRI OPERATIONS” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Calavo Growers to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.3% of Calavo Growers shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.3% of shares of all “AGRI OPERATIONS” companies are held by institutional investors. 7.2% of Calavo Growers shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.8% of shares of all “AGRI OPERATIONS” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Calavo Growers and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Calavo Growers	1.50%	11.79%	7.38%
Calavo Growers Competitors	-398.52%	-71.29%	-15.74%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Calavo Growers and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Calavo Growers	0	0	1	0	3.00
Calavo Growers Competitors	315	682	953	34	2.36

Calavo Growers currently has a consensus price target of $35.00, indicating a potential upside of 29.20%. As a group, “AGRI OPERATIONS” companies have a potential upside of 27.08%. Given Calavo Growers’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Calavo Growers is more favorable than its peers.

Risk & Volatility

Calavo Growers has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Calavo Growers’ peers have a beta of 0.81, meaning that their average share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Calavo Growers pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Calavo Growers pays out 137.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “AGRI OPERATIONS” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.1% and pay out -375.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Calavo Growers has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Calavo Growers lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Calavo Growers and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Calavo Growers	$661.54 million	-$1.08 million	46.71
Calavo Growers Competitors	$5.33 billion	$126.40 million	7.95

Calavo Growers’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Calavo Growers. Calavo Growers is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Calavo Growers beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Calavo Growers

Calavo Growers, Inc. markets and distributes avocados, prepared avocados, and other perishable foods to retail grocery and foodservice customers, club stores, mass merchandisers, food distributors, and wholesale customers worldwide. It operates through Grown and Prepared segments. The Grown segment distributes tomatoes and papayas; and procures avocados grown in California, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. The Prepared segment is involved in the distribution of prepared avocado products, salsa, fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, fresh prepared entrees salads, wraps, sandwiches, parfaits, and fresh snacking products, as well as ready-to-heat entrees, other hot bars and various deli items, meals kit components, and salad kits. It offers its products under the Calavo brands and related logos; and Avo Fresco, Bueno, Avo Fresco, Bueno, Calavo Gold, Celebrate the Taste, El Dorado, Taste of Paradise, The First Name in Avocados, The Family of Fresh, ProRipeVIP, RIPE NOW!, Renaissance Food Group, Garden Highway Fresh Cut, Garden Highway, and Garden Highway Chef Essentials trademarks. Calavo Growers, Inc. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Santa Paula, California.