Head-To-Head Survey: Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) and Cuisine Solutions (OTCMKTS:CUSI)

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) and Cuisine Solutions (OTCMKTS:CUSI) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Flowers Foods and Cuisine Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flowers Foods	3	4	0	0	1.57
Cuisine Solutions	0	0	0	0	0.00

Flowers Foods presently has a consensus price target of $11.17, indicating a potential upside of 35.03%. Given Flowers Foods’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Flowers Foods is more favorable than Cuisine Solutions.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Flowers Foods and Cuisine Solutions”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flowers Foods	$5.26 billion	0.33	$83.82 million	$0.40	20.68
Cuisine Solutions	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Flowers Foods has higher revenue and earnings than Cuisine Solutions.

Volatility & Risk

Flowers Foods has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cuisine Solutions has a beta of -0.36, meaning that its share price is 136% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.5% of Flowers Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 11.6% of Flowers Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 61.1% of Cuisine Solutions shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares Flowers Foods and Cuisine Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flowers Foods	1.59%	16.61%	5.38%
Cuisine Solutions	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Flowers Foods beats Cuisine Solutions on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc. produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack items, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs. Freshley's, and Tastykake brand names. The company distributes its products through a direct-store-delivery distribution and a warehouse delivery system, as well as operates bakeries. Its customers include national and regional restaurants, institutions and foodservice distributors, and retail in-store bakeries; wholesale distributors; mass merchandisers, supermarkets, vending outlets, and convenience stores; quick-serve chains, food wholesalers, institutions, dollar stores, and vending companies; and public health care, military commissaries, and prisons, and other governmental institutions. The company was formerly known as Flowers Industries and changed its name to Flowers Foods, Inc. in 2001. Flowers Foods, Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia.

About Cuisine Solutions

Cuisine Solutions, Inc. produces and markets various food products in the United States. Its products include beef, lamb, pork and veal, pastas, poultry, sauces, seafood, and vegetarian meals. The company offers its products to foodservice, on board services, retail, military, and national restaurant chain industries. Cuisine Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is based in Sterling, Virginia.