Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT – Get Free Report) and Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR – Get Free Report) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Freshpet and Darling Ingredients, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Freshpet | 1 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 2.50 |
| Darling Ingredients | 0 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 2.92 |
Freshpet currently has a consensus price target of $75.31, suggesting a potential upside of 22.58%. Darling Ingredients has a consensus price target of $69.00, suggesting a potential upside of 5.50%. Given Freshpet’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Freshpet is more favorable than Darling Ingredients.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
Profitability
This table compares Freshpet and Darling Ingredients’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Freshpet | 17.28% | 5.97% | 4.07% |
| Darling Ingredients | 9.13% | 12.98% | 6.08% |
Volatility & Risk
Freshpet has a beta of 1.66, suggesting that its share price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Darling Ingredients has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Freshpet and Darling Ingredients”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Freshpet | $1.10 billion | 2.74 | $139.14 million | $3.80 | 16.17 |
| Darling Ingredients | $6.14 billion | 1.68 | $62.80 million | $3.71 | 17.63 |
Freshpet has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Darling Ingredients. Freshpet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Darling Ingredients, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
About Freshpet
Freshpet, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and markets natural fresh meals and treats for dogs and cats in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It sells dog food, cat food, and dog treats under the Freshpet brand name; and Dognation and Dog Joy labels through various classes of retail, including grocery, mass, club, pet specialty, and natural, as well as online. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey.
About Darling Ingredients
Darling Ingredients Inc. develops, produces, and sells natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients in North America, Europe, China, South America, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Feed Ingredients, Food Ingredients, and Fuel Ingredients. It offers ingredients and customized specialty solutions for customers in the pharmaceutical, food, pet food, feed, industrial, fuel, bioenergy, and fertilizer industries. The company also collects and transforms various animal by-product streams into useable and specialty ingredients, such as collagen, edible fats, feed-grade fats, animal proteins and meals, plasma, pet food ingredients, organic fertilizers, yellow grease, fuel feedstock, green energy, natural casings, and hides. In addition, it recovers and converts used cooking oil and animal fats, and residual bakery products into valuable feed and fuel ingredients. Further, the company provides environmental services, including grease trap collection and disposal services to food service establishments. It primarily operates under the Rendac, Sonac, FASA, Ecoson, Rousselot, Gelnex, and CTH brand names. The company was formerly known as Darling International Inc. and changed its name to Darling Ingredients Inc. in May 2014. Darling Ingredients Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.
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