Analyzing Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) and Energizer (NYSE:ENR)

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) and Energizer (NYSE:ENR) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Church & Dwight has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Energizer has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Church & Dwight pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Energizer pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Church & Dwight pays out 40.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Energizer pays out 44.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Church & Dwight has increased its dividend for 29 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.6% of Church & Dwight shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.7% of Energizer shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Church & Dwight shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Energizer shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Church & Dwight and Energizer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Church & Dwight	11.81%	20.51%	9.62%
Energizer	6.55%	144.22%	5.37%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Church & Dwight and Energizer, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Church & Dwight	1	8	9	0	2.44
Energizer	0	7	1	0	2.13

Church & Dwight currently has a consensus target price of $102.59, suggesting a potential upside of 5.98%. Energizer has a consensus target price of $23.14, suggesting a potential upside of 7.72%. Given Energizer’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Energizer is more favorable than Church & Dwight.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Church & Dwight and Energizer”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Church & Dwight	$6.20 billion	3.70	$736.80 million	$3.04	31.84
Energizer	$2.98 billion	0.49	$239.00 million	$2.73	7.87

Church & Dwight has higher revenue and earnings than Energizer. Energizer is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Church & Dwight, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Church & Dwight beats Energizer on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Church & Dwight

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of household, personal care, and specialty products. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Domestic, Consumer International, Specialty Products Division (SPD), and Corporate. The Consumer Domestic segment offers household products, such as laundry detergents, fabric softener sheets, cat litter, household cleaning products, and personal care products including antiperspirants, oral care products, depilatories, reproductive health products, oral analgesics, nasal saline moisturizers, and dietary supplements. The Consumer International segment is involved in the personal care, household and over-the-counter products in international subsidiary markets, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, China, and the United Kingdom. The SPD segment consists of sales to businesses and participates in three product areas namely, animal nutrition, specialty chemicals, and commercial and professional. The Corporate segment includes equity in earnings of affiliates. The company was founded by Dwight John and Austin Church in 1846 and is headquartered in Ewing, NJ.

About Energizer

Energizer Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes household batteries, specialty batteries, and lighting products worldwide. It offers lithium, alkaline, carbon zinc, nickel metal hydride, zinc air, and silver oxide batteries under the Energizer, Eveready, and Rayovac brands; primary, rechargeable, specialty, and hearing aid batteries; and handheld, headlights, lanterns, and area lights, as well as flashlights under the Hard Case, Dolphin, and WeatherReady brands. The company licenses the Energizer, Rayovac, and Eveready brands to companies developing consumer solutions in solar, automotive batteries, portable power for critical devices, generators, power tools, household light bulbs, and other lighting products. In addition, it designs and markets automotive fragrance and appearance products, including protectants, wipes, tire and wheel care products, glass cleaners, leather care products, air fresheners, and washes to clean, shine, refresh, and protect interior and exterior automobile surfaces under the brand names of Armor All, Nu Finish, Refresh Your Car!, LEXOL, Eagle One, California Scents, Driven, Bahama & Co, Carnu, Grand Prix, Kit, and Tempo; STP branded fuel and oil additives, functional fluids, and other performance chemical products; and do-it-yourself automotive air conditioning recharge products under the A/C PRO brand name, as well as other refrigerant and recharge kits, sealants, and accessories. The company sells its products through direct sales force, distributors, and wholesalers; and various retail and business-to-business channels, including mass merchandisers, club, electronics, food, home improvement, dollar store, auto, drug, hardware, e-commerce, convenience, sporting goods, hobby/craft, office, industrial, medical, and catalog. Energizer Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.