Analyzing SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) & GLG Life Tech (OTCMKTS:GLGLF)

GLG Life Tech (OTCMKTS:GLGLF) and SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for GLG Life Tech and SunOpta, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GLG Life Tech	0	0	0	0	0.00
SunOpta	1	2	2	0	2.20

SunOpta has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.25%. Given SunOpta’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe SunOpta is more favorable than GLG Life Tech.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

85.4% of SunOpta shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of SunOpta shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

GLG Life Tech has a beta of 2.1, indicating that its share price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SunOpta has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares GLG Life Tech and SunOpta’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GLG Life Tech	120.13%	N/A	-261.73%
SunOpta	1.93%	14.83%	3.45%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares GLG Life Tech and SunOpta”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GLG Life Tech	$7.35 million	0.00	$8.60 million	$0.22	N/A
SunOpta	$817.72 million	0.96	$15.77 million	$0.13	49.93

SunOpta has higher revenue and earnings than GLG Life Tech. GLG Life Tech is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SunOpta, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

SunOpta beats GLG Life Tech on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GLG Life Tech

GLG Life Tech Corporation researches for, develops, grows, refines, and produces natural sweeteners extracted from the stevia plant and monk fruit in Canada and internationally. It also offers P-Pro Plus, a pea protein product; REB M GOLD, a bioconverted Rebaudioside M and Rebaudioside D. sweetener; and natural ingredients. It serves in the food and beverage industry. The company was formerly known as GLG Life Tech Limited and changed its name to GLG Life Tech Corporation in March 2007. GLG Life Tech Corporation was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Richmond, Canada.

About SunOpta

SunOpta Inc. engages in manufacture and sale of plant-based and fruit-based food and beverage products in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company provides plant-based beverages utilizing oat, almond, soy, coconut, rice, hemp, and other bases under the Dream and West Life brands; oat-based creamers under the SOWN brand; ready-to-drink protein shakes; and nut, grain, seed, and legume based beverages; packaged teas and concentrates; and meat and vegetable broths and stocks. It also offers plant-based ingredients, such as oatbase, oatgold, soybase, hempbase, and soypowders and okara; ready-to-eat fruit snacks made from apple purée and juice concentrate in bar, bit, twist, strip and sandwich formats; cold pressed fruit bars; liquid and powder ingredients utilizing oat, soy and hemp bases; ready-to-eat fruit smoothie and chia bowls topped with frozen fruit; consumer products, which includes protein shakes, teas, broths, and fruit snacks; and liquid and dry ingredients for internal use and for sale to other food and beverage manufacturers. It sells its products through various distribution channels including private label products to retail customers; branded products under co-manufacturing agreements to other branded food companies for their distribution; and its own branded products to retail and foodservice customers. The company was formerly known as Stake Technology Ltd. and changed its name to SunOpta Inc. in October 2003. SunOpta Inc. was incorporated in 1973 and is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.