J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) and Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) Financial Analysis

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) and Darling Ingredients (NYSE:DAR) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares J & J Snack Foods and Darling Ingredients’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
J & J Snack Foods	3.23%	8.93%	6.07%
Darling Ingredients	9.13%	12.98%	6.08%

Risk & Volatility

J & J Snack Foods has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Darling Ingredients has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares J & J Snack Foods and Darling Ingredients”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
J & J Snack Foods	$1.58 billion	0.91	$65.60 million	$2.60	29.68
Darling Ingredients	$6.14 billion	1.59	$62.80 million	$3.71	16.66

J & J Snack Foods has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Darling Ingredients. Darling Ingredients is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than J & J Snack Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for J & J Snack Foods and Darling Ingredients, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
J & J Snack Foods	2	0	2	0	2.00
Darling Ingredients	0	3	10	0	2.77

J & J Snack Foods currently has a consensus target price of $110.50, suggesting a potential upside of 43.17%. Darling Ingredients has a consensus target price of $69.91, suggesting a potential upside of 13.13%. Given J & J Snack Foods’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe J & J Snack Foods is more favorable than Darling Ingredients.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

76.0% of J & J Snack Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.4% of Darling Ingredients shares are held by institutional investors. 20.4% of J & J Snack Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Darling Ingredients shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Darling Ingredients beats J & J Snack Foods on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About J & J Snack Foods

J&J Snack Foods Corp. engages in the manufacturing of nutritional snack foods and distribution of frozen beverages to the food service and retail supermarket industries. It operates through the following segments: Food Service, Retail Supermarkets, and Frozen Beverages. The Food Service segment includes soft pretzels, frozen novelties, churros, handheld products, and baked goods. The Retail Supermarkets segment offers soft pretzel products including Superpretzel, frozen juice treats and desserts, including Luigi’s real Italian ice, Minute Maid juice bars and soft frozen lemonade, Whole Fruit frozen fruit bars and sorbet, Philly Swirl cups and sticks, ICEE Squeeze-Up Tubes and dough enrobed handheld products including Patio burritos. The Frozen Beverages segment provides frozen beverages to the food service industry primarily under the names ICEE, SLUSH PUPPIE, and PARROT ICE in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, as well as repair and maintenance services. The company was founded by Gerald B. Shreiber in 1971 and is headquartered in Mount Laurel, NJ.

About Darling Ingredients

Darling Ingredients Inc. develops, produces, and sells natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients in North America, Europe, China, South America, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Feed Ingredients, Food Ingredients, and Fuel Ingredients. It offers ingredients and customized specialty solutions for customers in the pharmaceutical, food, pet food, feed, industrial, fuel, bioenergy, and fertilizer industries. The company also collects and transforms various animal by-product streams into useable and specialty ingredients, such as collagen, edible fats, feed-grade fats, animal proteins and meals, plasma, pet food ingredients, organic fertilizers, yellow grease, fuel feedstock, green energy, natural casings, and hides. In addition, it recovers and converts used cooking oil and animal fats, and residual bakery products into valuable feed and fuel ingredients. Further, the company provides environmental services, including grease trap collection and disposal services to food service establishments. It primarily operates under the Rendac, Sonac, FASA, Ecoson, Rousselot, Gelnex, and CTH brand names. The company was formerly known as Darling International Inc. and changed its name to Darling Ingredients Inc. in May 2014. Darling Ingredients Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.