Alico (NASDAQ:ALCO) and Dole (NYSE:DOLE) Head-To-Head Analysis

Alico (NASDAQ:ALCO) and Dole (NYSE:DOLE) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Alico has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dole has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Alico and Dole”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alico	$44.07 million	7.08	-$147.33 million	($18.53)	-2.20
Dole	$9.17 billion	0.16	$51.32 million	$0.53	28.63

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Alico and Dole, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alico	1	0	1	0	2.00
Dole	0	3	0	0	2.00

Alico currently has a consensus price target of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.46%. Dole has a consensus price target of $15.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2.14%. Given Alico’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Alico is more favorable than Dole.

Profitability

This table compares Alico and Dole’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alico	-487.45%	-101.66%	-55.52%
Dole	0.56%	7.81%	2.55%

Dividends

Alico pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Dole pays an annual dividend of $0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Alico pays out -1.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dole pays out 64.2% 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. Dole has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Dole is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

62.3% of Alico shares are held by institutional investors. 6.7% of Alico shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Dole beats Alico on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alico

Alico, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an agribusiness and land management company in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Alico Citrus, and Land Management and Other Operations. The Alico Citrus segment engages in planting, owning, cultivating, and/or managing citrus groves to produce fruit for sale to fresh and processed citrus markets, including activities related to the purchase and resale of fruit and value-added services, which include contracting for the harvesting, marketing, and hauling of citrus. The Land Management and Other Operations segment is involved in the activities related to native plant sales, grazing and hunting leasing, management, and/or conservation of unimproved native pastureland; and activities related to rock mining royalties and other insignificant lines of business, as well as in the activities related to owning and/or leasing improved farmland. The company was incorporated in 1960 and is based in Fort Myers, Florida.

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.