Dole (NYSE:DOLE – Get Free Report) and Lavoro (NASDAQ:LVRO – Get Free Report) 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 dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings for Dole and Lavoro, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Dole | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Lavoro | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.25 |
Dole presently has a consensus price target of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.92%. Lavoro has a consensus price target of $3.44, suggesting a potential upside of 1,030.76%. Given Lavoro’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lavoro is more favorable than Dole.
Volatility & Risk
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Dole and Lavoro”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Dole | $9.17 billion | 0.15 | $51.32 million | $0.53 | 27.72 |
| Lavoro | $6.52 billion | 0.01 | -$466.28 million | ($1.57) | -0.19 |
Dole has higher revenue and earnings than Lavoro. Lavoro is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dole, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Dole and Lavoro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Dole | 0.56% | 7.81% | 2.55% |
| Lavoro | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
2.5% of Lavoro shares are held by institutional investors. 41.8% of Dole shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Dole beats Lavoro on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Dole
Dole Food Company, Inc. (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods. The fresh fruit segment contains operating divisions that produce and market fresh fruit to wholesale, retail and institutional customers worldwide. The fresh vegetables segment produces and markets fresh-packed and value-added vegetables and salads to wholesale, retail and institutional customers, primarily in North America and Europe. The packaged foods segment contains several operating divisions that produce and market packaged foods, including fruit, juices, frozen fruit and healthy snack foods. In November 2013, Dole Food Company, Inc announced that an investor group acquired the remaining 60.43% interest in the Company.
About Lavoro
Lavoro Limited operates as an agricultural inputs retailer. The company operates through three segments: Brazil Cluster, LATAM Cluster, and Crop Care Cluster. It distributes agricultural inputs, such as crop protection, seeds, fertilizers, foliar fertilizers, biologicals, adjuvants, organominerals, and others for the agricultural industry. The company also produces specialty fertilizers, crop protection products, and biological crop inputs. It operates in Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay. The company sells its products through its physical stores and digital channel. Lavoro Limited was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.
Receive News & Ratings for Dole Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dole and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
