Comparing BellRing Brands (NYSE:BRBR) & SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL)

BellRing Brands (NYSE:BRBR) and SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.0% of BellRing Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.4% of SunOpta shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of BellRing Brands shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of SunOpta shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for BellRing Brands and SunOpta, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BellRing Brands	1	6	12	0	2.58
SunOpta	1	2	2	0	2.20

BellRing Brands currently has a consensus target price of $37.25, suggesting a potential upside of 142.75%. SunOpta has a consensus target price of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.84%. Given BellRing Brands’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe BellRing Brands is more favorable than SunOpta.

Profitability

This table compares BellRing Brands and SunOpta’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BellRing Brands	7.88%	-64.79%	25.12%
SunOpta	1.93%	13.31%	3.10%

Volatility and Risk

BellRing Brands has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SunOpta has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares BellRing Brands and SunOpta”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BellRing Brands	$2.32 billion	0.78	$216.20 million	$1.45	10.58
SunOpta	$817.72 million	0.94	$15.77 million	N/A	N/A

BellRing Brands has higher revenue and earnings than SunOpta.

Summary

BellRing Brands beats SunOpta on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BellRing Brands

BellRing Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various nutrition products in the United States. The company offers ready-to-drink (RTD) protein shakes, other RTD beverages, powders, nutrition bars, and other products primarily under the Premier Protein and Dymatize brands. It distributes its products through club, food, drug, mass, eCommerce, specialty, and convenience channels. BellRing Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

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.