George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) versus General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Critical Comparison

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) and George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.7% of General Mills shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of George Weston shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of General Mills shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 53.6% of George Weston shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for General Mills and George Weston, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
General Mills	4	13	4	0	2.00
George Weston	0	2	4	0	2.67

General Mills currently has a consensus price target of $50.42, suggesting a potential upside of 15.96%. Given General Mills’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe General Mills is more favorable than George Weston.

Profitability

This table compares General Mills and George Weston’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
General Mills	13.51%	21.41%	6.12%
George Weston	2.37%	13.21%	3.33%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares General Mills and George Weston”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
General Mills	$19.49 billion	1.19	$2.30 billion	$4.65	9.35
George Weston	$44.97 billion	0.59	$991.80 million	$2.71	25.59

General Mills has higher earnings, but lower revenue than George Weston. General Mills is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than George Weston, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

General Mills has a beta of -0.05, meaning that its share price is 105% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, George Weston has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

General Mills pays an annual dividend of $2.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. George Weston pays an annual dividend of $0.85 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. General Mills pays out 52.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. George Weston pays out 31.4% 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. General Mills has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. General Mills is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

General Mills beats George Weston on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables. The company also manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food; and operates ice cream parlors. It markets its products under the Annie’s, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Blue Buffalo, Bugles, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Dunkaroos, Edgard & Cooper, Fiber One, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gardetto’s, Gold Medal, Golden Grahams, Häagen-Dazs, Kitano, Kix, Lärabar, Latina, Lucky Charms, Muir Glen, Nature Valley, Nudges, Oatmeal Crisp, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Progresso, Tastefuls, Total, Totino’s , Trix, True Chews, True Solutions, Wanchai Ferry, Wheaties, Wilderness, and Yoki brands. The company sells its products to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, e-commerce retailers, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, convenience stores, and pet specialty stores. General Mills, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About George Weston

George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services. This segment also offers credit card and other banking services, insurance brokerage services, guaranteed investment certificates, and wireless mobile products and services. The Choice Properties segment owns, operates, manages, and develops retail commercial and residential properties, leased to necessity-based tenants, industrial, and mixed-use and residential assets. It markets its products under the Shoppers Drug Mart, Joe Fresh, President’s Choice Bank, no name, Farmer’s Market, T&T, Life Brand, and PC Optimum brands. The company was founded in 1882 and is based in Toronto, Canada. George Weston Limited operates as a subsidiary of Wittington Investments, Limited.