Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) & Darling Ingredients (DAR) Financial Review

Darling Ingredients (NYSE: DAR) and Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitabiliy, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Darling Ingredients and Central Garden & Pet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Darling Ingredients	3.06%	5.15%	2.24%
Central Garden & Pet	3.27%	12.72%	5.68%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.1% of Darling Ingredients shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.1% of Central Garden & Pet shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Darling Ingredients shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.6% of Central Garden & Pet shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Darling Ingredients has a beta of 1.61, meaning that its share price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Central Garden & Pet has a beta of 0.12, meaning that its share price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Darling Ingredients and Central Garden & Pet’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Darling Ingredients	$3.50 billion	0.79	$442.53 million	$0.65	25.79
Central Garden & Pet	$1.92 billion	0.90	$190.34 million	$1.22	27.30

Darling Ingredients has higher revenue and earnings than Central Garden & Pet. Darling Ingredients is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Central Garden & Pet, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Darling Ingredients and Central Garden & Pet, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Darling Ingredients	0	0	5	0	3.00
Central Garden & Pet	0	1	3	0	2.75

Darling Ingredients presently has a consensus target price of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.40%. Central Garden & Pet has a consensus target price of $38.33, suggesting a potential upside of 15.12%. Given Central Garden & Pet’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Central Garden & Pet is more favorable than Darling Ingredients.

Summary

Central Garden & Pet beats Darling Ingredients on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

Darling Ingredients Company Profile

Darling Ingredients Inc. (Darling) is a developer and producer of sustainable natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients, creating a range of ingredients and customized specialty solutions for customers in the pharmaceutical, food, pet food, feed, industrial, fuel, bioenergy and fertilizer industries. The Company operates through three segments: Feed Ingredients, Food Ingredients and Fuel Ingredients. The Company collects and transforms all aspects of animal by-product streams into useable and specialty ingredients, such as gelatin, edible fats, feed-grade fats, animal proteins and meals, plasma, pet food ingredients, organic fertilizers, yellow grease, fuel feedstocks, green energy, natural casings and hides. In addition, the Company provides grease trap services to food service establishments, environmental services to food processors and sells restaurant cooking oil delivery and collection equipment.

Central Garden & Pet Company Profile

Central Garden & Pet Company is a marketer and producer of branded products and distributor of third party products in the pet and lawn and garden supplies industries in the United States. The Company operates in two segments: Pet segment and the Garden segment. It is a marketer and producer of pet supplies in the United States. In addition, its Pet segment operates sales and logistics networks in the industry strategically supporting its brands. Its principal pet supplies categories are dog and cat, aquatics, bird and small animal, wild bird feed and animal health products. The Company markets and produces various brands, including Pennington, The Rebels, AMDRO, Lilly Miller, Ironite, Sevin, and Over-N-Out. Its Garden segment operates a sales and logistics network that strategically supports its brands. The Company’s principal lawn and garden product lines include grass seed, wild bird feed and insect control products.