Ajinomoto (OTCMKTS:AJINY – Get Free Report) and General Mills (NYSE:GIS – Get Free Report) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation and risk.
Volatility and Risk
Ajinomoto has a beta of 0.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Mills has a beta of -0.03, indicating that its stock price is 103% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
75.7% of General Mills shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of General Mills shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
Profitability
This table compares Ajinomoto and General Mills’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Ajinomoto | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| General Mills | 12.05% | 19.19% | 5.48% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Ajinomoto and General Mills, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Ajinomoto | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| General Mills | 7 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 1.86 |
General Mills has a consensus target price of $39.39, indicating a potential upside of 18.70%. Given General Mills’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe General Mills is more favorable than Ajinomoto.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Ajinomoto and General Mills”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Ajinomoto | $10.05 billion | 2.72 | $463.80 million | $0.83 | 33.69 |
| General Mills | $19.49 billion | 0.91 | $2.30 billion | $4.09 | 8.11 |
General Mills has higher revenue and earnings than Ajinomoto. General Mills is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ajinomoto, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
General Mills beats Ajinomoto on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Ajinomoto
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. engages in the seasonings and foods, frozen foods, and healthcare and other businesses in Japan and internationally. The Seasonings and Foods segment offers sauces and seasoning products under the AJI-NO-MOTO, HON-DASHI, Cook Do, Ajinomoto KK Consommé, Pure Select Mayonnaise, Ros Dee, Masako, Aji-ngon, Sazón, Sajiku, and CRISPY FRY names; and solutions and ingredients for foodservice and processed food manufacturers, processed foods, and restaurants, as well as industrial, retail, and other applications. This segment also provides instant noodles under the Knorr Cup Soup and YumYum names; coffee beverages under the Birdy and Blendy brands; powdered drink under the Birdy 3in1 name; MAXIM brand products; Chyotto Zeitakuna Kohiten brand products; and gift sets and office supplies comprising coffee vending machines, tea servers, etc. The Frozen Foods segment offers Chinese dumplings, cooked rice, noodles, desserts, shumai, processed chicken, and other products under the AJINOMOTO FRESH FROZEN, Bernardi, FRED’S, Golden Tiger, José Olé, LingLing, POSADA, and TAI PEI brands. The Healthcare and Other segment provides amino acids for applications in various industries, such as pharmaceuticals and foods; contract development and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical intermediates and active ingredients, aseptic fill finish services, etc.; personal care ingredients; and medical foods, crop services, etc. This segment also offers Ajinomoto Build-up Film, an interlayer insulating material for semiconductor packages; fundamental foods under the Glyna and Amino Aile names; sports nutrition supplements under the amino VITAL brand; and functional materials, such as activated carbon, release paper, etc. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
About General Mills
General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables. The company also manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food; and operates ice cream parlors. It markets its products under the Annie’s, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Blue Buffalo, Bugles, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Dunkaroos, Edgard & Cooper, Fiber One, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gardetto’s, Gold Medal, Golden Grahams, Häagen-Dazs, Kitano, Kix, Lärabar, Latina, Lucky Charms, Muir Glen, Nature Valley, Nudges, Oatmeal Crisp, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Progresso, Tastefuls, Total, Totino’s , Trix, True Chews, True Solutions, Wanchai Ferry, Wheaties, Wilderness, and Yoki brands. The company sells its products to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, e-commerce retailers, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, convenience stores, and pet specialty stores. General Mills, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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