Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB – Get Free Report) and Medifast (NYSE:MED – Get Free Report) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.
Profitability
This table compares Kimberly-Clark and Medifast’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Kimberly-Clark | 11.79% | 143.92% | 14.21% |
| Medifast | -8.08% | -6.69% | -5.25% |
Risk and Volatility
Kimberly-Clark has a beta of 0.25, meaning that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medifast has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Kimberly-Clark and Medifast”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Kimberly-Clark | $16.45 billion | 1.99 | $2.02 billion | $5.88 | 16.74 |
| Medifast | $385.79 million | 0.36 | -$18.67 million | ($2.33) | -5.26 |
Kimberly-Clark has higher revenue and earnings than Medifast. Medifast is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kimberly-Clark, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Kimberly-Clark and Medifast, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Kimberly-Clark | 1 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 2.29 |
| Medifast | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.67 |
Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus price target of $117.36, suggesting a potential upside of 19.23%. Medifast has a consensus price target of $12.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.08%. Given Kimberly-Clark’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Kimberly-Clark is more favorable than Medifast.
Summary
Kimberly-Clark beats Medifast on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products in the United States. It operates through three segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The company’s Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swimpants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, reusable underwear, and other related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers, GoodNites, DryNites, Sweety, Kotex, U by Kotex, Intimus, Thinx, Poise, Depend, Plenitud, Softex, and other brand names. Its Consumer Tissue segment provides facial and bathroom tissues, paper towels, napkins, and related products under the Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, Viva, Andrex, Scottex, Neve, and other brand names. The company’s K-C Professional segment offers wipers, tissues, towels, apparel, personal protective equipment, soaps, and sanitizers under the Kleenex, Scott, WypAll, Kimtech, and KleenGuard brands. It also sells household use products directly to supermarkets, mass merchandisers, drugstores, warehouse clubs, variety and department stores, and other retail outlets, as well as through other distributors and e-commerce; and away-from-home use products directly to distributors, manufacturing, lodging, office building, food service, and public facilities, as well as through e-commerce. Kimberly-Clark Corporation was founded in 1872 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
About Medifast
Medifast, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of weight loss, weight management, and healthy living products in the United States and the Asia-Pacific. It offers bars, puffs, cereal, crunchers, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serve, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes, and soups under the OPTAVIA, OPTAVIA ACTIVE, and Optimal Health brand names. The company markets its products through point-of-sale transactions, as well as through ecommerce platform. Medifast, Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.
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