Financial Contrast: Unilever PLC (UL) and USANA Health Sciences (USNA)

USANA Health Sciences (NYSE: USNA) and Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitabiliy.

Profitability

This table compares USANA Health Sciences and Unilever PLC’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
USANA Health Sciences	9.47%	30.12%	21.45%
Unilever PLC	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

44.1% of USANA Health Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.4% of Unilever PLC shares are owned by institutional investors. 53.2% of USANA Health Sciences shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Unilever PLC shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for USANA Health Sciences and Unilever PLC, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
USANA Health Sciences	0	0	1	0	3.00
Unilever PLC	2	3	5	0	2.30

USANA Health Sciences presently has a consensus target price of $70.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.35%. Unilever PLC has a consensus target price of $26.00, indicating a potential downside of 54.29%. Given USANA Health Sciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe USANA Health Sciences is more favorable than Unilever PLC.

Volatility & Risk

USANA Health Sciences has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unilever PLC has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Unilever PLC pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. USANA Health Sciences does not pay a dividend.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares USANA Health Sciences and Unilever PLC’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
USANA Health Sciences	$1.02 billion	1.39	$146.58 million	$3.86	14.70
Unilever PLC	$62.97 billion	2.54	$11.26 billion	N/A	N/A

Unilever PLC has higher revenue and earnings than USANA Health Sciences.

Summary

USANA Health Sciences beats Unilever PLC on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

USANA Health Sciences Company Profile

USANA Health Sciences, Inc. develops and manufactures science-based nutritional and personal care products. The Company operates as a direct selling company in two geographic regions: Americas and Europe, and Asia Pacific, which includes three sub-regions: Southeast Asia Pacific, Greater China and North Asia. Its product lines include USANA Nutritionals Essentials, Optimizers, Foods, Sense-beautiful science and All Other. Its USANA Nutritionals Essentials product line includes vitamin and mineral supplements that provide a foundation of total body nutrition for every age group beginning with children of approximately one year. Its Optimizers product line consists of targeted supplements designed to meet individual health and nutritional needs. Its Sense-beautiful science product line includes science-based, personal care products that support skin and hair by providing topical nourishment, moisturization and protection.

Unilever PLC Company Profile

Unilever PLC is a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company. The Company’s segments include Personal Care, which primarily includes sales of skin care and hair care products, deodorants and oral care products; Foods, which primarily includes sales of soups, bouillons, sauces, snacks, mayonnaise, salad dressings, margarines and spreads; Home Care, which primarily includes sales of home care products, such as powders, liquids and capsules, soap bars and a range of cleaning products, and Refreshment, which primarily includes sales of ice cream and tea-based beverages. The Company’s geographical segments include Asia/AMET/RUB, The Americas and Europe. Its brands include Axe, Dirt is Good (Omo), Dove, Family Goodness (Rama), Heartbrand (Wall’s), Hellmann’s, Knorr, Lipton, Lux, Magnum, Rexona, Sunsilk and Surf. The Company operates in more than 100 countries, selling its products in more than 190 countries. The Company operates approximately 310 factories in over 70 countries.