Financial Survey: Campbell Soup (CPB) vs. B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS)

Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) and B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS) are both mid-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitabiliy, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

43.9% of Campbell Soup shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.2% of B&G Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 37.3% of Campbell Soup shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of B&G Foods shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Campbell Soup pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. B&G Foods pays an annual dividend of $1.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Campbell Soup pays out 88.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. B&G Foods pays out 111.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Campbell Soup has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Risk and Volatility

Campbell Soup has a beta of 0.34, meaning that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, B&G Foods has a beta of 0.09, meaning that its stock price is 91% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Campbell Soup and B&G Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Campbell Soup	3	9	0	0	1.75
B&G Foods	0	5	2	0	2.29

Campbell Soup presently has a consensus price target of $57.03, indicating a potential upside of 9.68%. B&G Foods has a consensus price target of $46.25, indicating a potential upside of 24.16%. Given B&G Foods’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe B&G Foods is more favorable than Campbell Soup.

Profitability

This table compares Campbell Soup and B&G Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Campbell Soup	6.17%	59.83%	11.81%
B&G Foods	7.49%	17.41%	4.55%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Campbell Soup and B&G Foods’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Campbell Soup	$7.91 billion	1.99	$1.61 billion	$1.59	32.70
B&G Foods	$1.46 billion	1.70	$325.40 million	$1.67	22.31

Campbell Soup has higher revenue and earnings than B&G Foods. B&G Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Campbell Soup, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Campbell Soup beats B&G Foods on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

Campbell Soup Company Profile

Campbell Soup Company is a food company, which manufactures and markets food products. The Company’s segments include Americas Simple Meals and Beverages; Global Biscuits and Snacks, and Campbell Fresh. The Americas Simple Meals and Beverages segment includes the retail and food service channel businesses. The segment includes the products, such as Campbell’s condensed and ready-to-serve soups; Swanson broth and stocks; Prego pasta sauces; Pace Mexican sauces; Campbell’s gravies, pasta, beans and dinner sauces; Plum food and snacks; V8 juices and beverages, and Campbell’s tomato juice. The Global Biscuits and Snacks segment includes Pepperidge Farm cookies, crackers, bakery and frozen products; Arnott’s biscuits, and Kelsen cookies. The Campbell Fresh segment includes Bolthouse Farms fresh carrots, carrot ingredients, refrigerated beverages and refrigerated salad dressings; Garden Fresh Gourmet salsa, hummus, dips and tortilla chips, and the United States refrigerated soup business.

B&G Foods Company Profile

B&G Foods, Inc. (B&G Foods) is a holding company. The Company manufactures, sells and distributes a portfolio of shelf-stable and frozen foods across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Its products include frozen and canned vegetables, hot cereals, fruit spreads, canned meats and beans, bagel chips, spices, seasonings, hot sauces, wine vinegar, maple syrup, molasses, salad dressings, pizza crusts, Mexican-style sauces, dry soups, taco shells and kits, salsas, pickles, peppers, tomato-based products, puffed corn and rice snacks, nut clusters and other specialty products. Its products are marketed under various brands, including Ac’cent, B&G, B&M, Baker’s Joy, Bear Creek Country Kitchens, Brer Rabbit, Canoleo, Cary’s, Cream of Rice, Cream of Wheat, Devonsheer, Don Pepino, Durkee, New York Style, Old London, Original Tings, Ortega, Spice Islands, Spring Tree, Static Guard, Sugar Twin, Tone’s, Trappey’s, TrueNorth, Underwood, Vermont Maid, Victoria, Weber and Wright’s.