Reviewing Unicharm (OTCMKTS:UNICY) and Natural Health Trends (NASDAQ:NHTC)

Natural Health Trends (NASDAQ:NHTC) and Unicharm (OTCMKTS:UNICY) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Natural Health Trends and Unicharm’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Natural Health Trends	0.83%	1.09%	0.66%
Unicharm	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

Natural Health Trends has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unicharm has a beta of 0.26, indicating that its stock price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

10.1% of Natural Health Trends shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.3% of Natural Health Trends shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Natural Health Trends and Unicharm”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Natural Health Trends	$40.87 million	0.89	$570,000.00	($0.01)	-315.00
Unicharm	$6.54 billion	1.57	$540.15 million	$0.18	16.28

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Natural Health Trends and Unicharm, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Natural Health Trends	1	0	0	0	1.00
Unicharm	0	0	0	0	0.00

Dividends

Natural Health Trends pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 25.4%. Unicharm pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Natural Health Trends pays out -8,000.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unicharm pays out 22.2% 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. Natural Health Trends is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Natural Health Trends beats Unicharm on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Natural Health Trends

Natural Health Trends Corp., a direct-selling and e-commerce company, provides personal care, wellness, and lifestyle products under the NHT Global brand. The company offers wellness products, including liquid, encapsulated, tableted and powder dietary and nutritional supplements, vitamins, and minerals; and herbal products comprising herbal supplements. It also provides beauty products, such as age-defying and hydrating cleansers, creams, lotions, serums, and toners; and lifestyle products, which include weight management and energy enhancing supplements, as well as topical gels. In addition, the company offers home appliances; and daily products, such as oral care, hair care, and body care. It sells its products directly to consumers, as well as through an e-commerce retail platform in the United States, Canada, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Peru, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Europe. The company was formerly known as Florida Institute of Massage Therapy, Inc. and changed its name to Natural Health Trends Corp. in June 1993. Natural Health Trends Corp. was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

About Unicharm

Unicharm Corporation engages in the manufacturing and sale of wellness, feminine, baby and children, kirei, and pet care products in Japan and internationally. The company's baby and child care products, including disposable diapers and wipes under the Moony, MamyPoko, Oyasumiman, and Torepanman brands; feminine care products comprise napkins, tampons, panty liners, sanitary short, panty liners, and other feminine care products under the Sofy, Center-In, and Unicharm brand names; and wellness care products include napkin-type incontinence pads, pants-type diapers, tape-type diapers, pants-type specialized urine pads, and tape-type specialized urine pads under the Lifree and Charmnap brand. It also provides masks under the Unicharm brand; home care products, including cleaning sheets under the Wave brand name; cosmetic cotton and wet wipes under the Silcot brand; and paper towels under the Cook Up brand name. In addition, the company offers pet care products that include pet foods, excrement cleanup sheets, system toilets, and disposable diapers under the Grand Deli, Best Balance, Physicalife Dog, Silver Plate, Aiken Genki, Manner Wear, Deo Sheet, Silver Spoon, AllWell, Physicalife Cat, Deo Toilet, Deo Sand, Deo Clean, and Neko Genki brands; and deodorizing beads. Further, it is involved in the manufacture and sale of industrial materials related products, etc., as well as food-packaging materials. Unicharm Corporation was incorporated in 1941 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.