Reviewing Ajinomoto (OTCMKTS:AJINY) and Mama’s Creations (NASDAQ:MAMA)

Ajinomoto (OTCMKTS:AJINY) and Mama’s Creations (NASDAQ:MAMA) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Ajinomoto and Mama’s Creations’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ajinomoto	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mama’s Creations	3.06%	15.31%	8.85%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ajinomoto and Mama’s Creations”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ajinomoto	$10.05 billion	2.72	$463.80 million	$0.83	33.69
Mama’s Creations	$171.71 million	3.42	$5.29 million	$0.12	120.33

Ajinomoto has higher revenue and earnings than Mama’s Creations. Ajinomoto is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mama’s Creations, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Ajinomoto has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mama’s Creations has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

45.2% of Mama’s Creations shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of Mama’s Creations shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Ajinomoto and Mama’s Creations, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ajinomoto	0	2	0	1	2.67
Mama’s Creations	0	1	5	0	2.83

Mama’s Creations has a consensus price target of $18.80, suggesting a potential upside of 30.19%. Given Mama’s Creations’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mama’s Creations is more favorable than Ajinomoto.

Summary

Mama’s Creations beats Ajinomoto on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ajinomoto

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. engages in the seasonings and foods, frozen foods, and healthcare and other businesses in Japan and internationally. The Seasonings and Foods segment offers sauces and seasoning products under the AJI-NO-MOTO, HON-DASHI, Cook Do, Ajinomoto KK Consommé, Pure Select Mayonnaise, Ros Dee, Masako, Aji-ngon, Sazón, Sajiku, and CRISPY FRY names; and solutions and ingredients for foodservice and processed food manufacturers, processed foods, and restaurants, as well as industrial, retail, and other applications. This segment also provides instant noodles under the Knorr Cup Soup and YumYum names; coffee beverages under the Birdy and Blendy brands; powdered drink under the Birdy 3in1 name; MAXIM brand products; Chyotto Zeitakuna Kohiten brand products; and gift sets and office supplies comprising coffee vending machines, tea servers, etc. The Frozen Foods segment offers Chinese dumplings, cooked rice, noodles, desserts, shumai, processed chicken, and other products under the AJINOMOTO FRESH FROZEN, Bernardi, FRED’S, Golden Tiger, José Olé, LingLing, POSADA, and TAI PEI brands. The Healthcare and Other segment provides amino acids for applications in various industries, such as pharmaceuticals and foods; contract development and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical intermediates and active ingredients, aseptic fill finish services, etc.; personal care ingredients; and medical foods, crop services, etc. This segment also offers Ajinomoto Build-up Film, an interlayer insulating material for semiconductor packages; fundamental foods under the Glyna and Amino Aile names; sports nutrition supplements under the amino VITAL brand; and functional materials, such as activated carbon, release paper, etc. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Mama’s Creations

Mama’s Creations, Inc. engages in the marketing, manufacturing, and distribution of beef meatballs with sauce, turkey meatballs with sauce, beef meat loaf, sausage and peppers, chicken parmesan, and other similar meats and sauces. Its products include beef meatballs, turkey meatballs, stuffed meatballs, lasagna roll ups, retail ready meals, bulk deli, single-size pasta bowls, and packaged refrigerated products. Its brands include MamaMancini’s, Creative Salads, and The Olive Branch. The company was founded by Daniel Dougherty on July 22, 2009 and is headquartered in East Rutherford, NJ.