Comparing Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) and Arcadia Biosciences (NASDAQ:RKDA)

Arcadia Biosciences (NASDAQ:RKDA) and Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Arcadia Biosciences and Monster Beverage, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arcadia Biosciences	1	0	0	0	1.00
Monster Beverage	0	8	15	1	2.71

Monster Beverage has a consensus price target of $74.05, suggesting a potential upside of 56.32%. Given Monster Beverage’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Monster Beverage is more favorable than Arcadia Biosciences.

Risk and Volatility

Arcadia Biosciences has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Monster Beverage has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

17.7% of Arcadia Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.4% of Monster Beverage shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of Arcadia Biosciences shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of Monster Beverage shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Arcadia Biosciences and Monster Beverage”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arcadia Biosciences	$4.86 million	0.08	-$2.34 million	($4.56)	-0.03
Monster Beverage	$9.22 billion	10.07	$1.91 billion	$1.08	43.86

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

Profitability

This table compares Arcadia Biosciences and Monster Beverage’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arcadia Biosciences	-234.53%	-183.50%	-91.25%
Monster Beverage	23.08%	26.02%	21.21%

Summary

Monster Beverage beats Arcadia Biosciences on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arcadia Biosciences

Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. produces and markets plant-based food and beverage products in the United States. The company develops crop improvements primarily in wheat to enhance farm economics by improving the performance of crops in the field, as well as their value as food ingredients. Its food, beverage, and body case products include GoodWheat, Zola coconut water, ProVault topical pain relief, and SoulSpring. The company was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About Monster Beverage

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other. It offers carbonated non-carbonated energy drinks, ready-to-drink iced teas, lemonades, juice cocktails, single-serve juices and fruit beverages, ready-to-drink dairy and coffee drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and single-serve still waters, and sodas that are considered natural, sparkling juices, and flavored sparkling beverages. The company sells its products to full service beverage bottlers/distributors, retail grocery and specialty chains, wholesalers, club stores, mass merchandisers, convenience chains, food service customers, value stores, e-commerce retailers, and the military; and concentrates and/or beverage bases to authorized bottling and canning operations. It provides its products under the Monster Energy, Monster Energy Ultra, Monster Rehab, Monster Energy Nitro, Java Monster, Punch Monster, Juice Monster, Muscle Monster, Espresso Monster, Monster Tour Water, Fury, Monster MAXX, Caffe Monster, Monster Hydro, Monster HydroSport Super Fuel, Monster Dragon Tea, Reign Total Body Fuel, and Reign Inferno Thermogenic Fuel, Reign Storm, Bang Energy, NOS, Full Throttle, Burn, Mother, Nalu, Ultra Energy, Play and Power Play (stylized), Relentless, BPM, BU, Gladiator, Samurai, Live+, Predator, and Fury brands. The company was formerly known as Hansen Natural Corporation and changed its name to Monster Beverage Corporation in January 2012. Monster Beverage Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Corona, California.