Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL – Get Free Report) and Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM – Get Free Report) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and profitability.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Vital Farms and Cal-Maine Foods”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Vital Farms | $759.44 million | 0.52 | $66.28 million | ($0.04) | -228.50 |
| Cal-Maine Foods | $2.91 billion | 1.00 | $316.68 million | $1.17 | 53.50 |
Cal-Maine Foods has higher revenue and earnings than Vital Farms. Vital Farms is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cal-Maine Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Vital Farms and Cal-Maine Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Vital Farms | 1 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 2.29 |
| Cal-Maine Foods | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2.17 |
Vital Farms presently has a consensus price target of $16.73, suggesting a potential upside of 83.01%. Cal-Maine Foods has a consensus price target of $84.17, suggesting a potential upside of 34.45%. Given Vital Farms’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Vital Farms is more favorable than Cal-Maine Foods.
Volatility and Risk
Vital Farms has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cal-Maine Foods has a beta of 0.25, suggesting that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Vital Farms and Cal-Maine Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Vital Farms | 0.02% | 3.46% | 2.25% |
| Cal-Maine Foods | 2.32% | 2.21% | 1.89% |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
98.6% of Vital Farms shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.7% of Cal-Maine Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of Vital Farms shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of Cal-Maine Foods shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Vital Farms beats Cal-Maine Foods on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Vital Farms
Vital Farms, Inc., a food company, provides pasture-raised products in the United States. It offers shell eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs, and liquid whole eggs. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
About Cal-Maine Foods
Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces, grades, packages, markets, and distributes shell eggs. The company offers specialty shell eggs, such as nutritionally enhanced, cage free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised, and brown eggs under the Egg-Land's Best, Land O' Lakes, Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, and 4Grain brand names. It sells its products to various customers, including national and regional grocery store chains, club stores, independent supermarkets, foodservice distributors, and egg product consumers primarily in the southwestern, southeastern, mid-western, and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
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