Comparing Borealis Foods (NASDAQ:BRLS) & United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI)

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) and Borealis Foods (NASDAQ:BRLS) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

United Natural Foods has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Borealis Foods has a beta of 0.34, suggesting that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares United Natural Foods and Borealis Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Natural Foods	-0.32%	4.35%	0.90%
Borealis Foods	-65.11%	N/A	-31.61%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares United Natural Foods and Borealis Foods”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Natural Foods	$31.78 billion	0.06	-$118.00 million	($1.66)	-19.57
Borealis Foods	$27.90 million	1.25	-$25.33 million	($0.86)	-1.88

Borealis Foods has lower revenue, but higher earnings than United Natural Foods. United Natural Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Borealis Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for United Natural Foods and Borealis Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Natural Foods	1	6	3	1	2.36
Borealis Foods	1	0	0	0	1.00

United Natural Foods presently has a consensus price target of $38.78, indicating a potential upside of 19.37%. Given United Natural Foods’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe United Natural Foods is more favorable than Borealis Foods.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.6% of United Natural Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.7% of Borealis Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 2.4% of United Natural Foods shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.2% of Borealis Foods shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

United Natural Foods beats Borealis Foods on 10 of the 15 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 Borealis Foods

Borealis Foods Inc. operates as a food technology company that develops plant-based ready-to-eat meals. The company also developed ambient ready-to-eat high-protein meals for U.S. and global humanitarian food programs. Its products include Chef Woo, a plant based instant ramen meals that provides with 20 grams of plant-based complete protein; and Ramen Express, a vegetarian ramen noodles. The company distributes its products via retail partners across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe and also sells its products online. The company is based in Oakville, Canada.