Head to Head Contrast: National Beverage (NASDAQ:FIZZ) and PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP)

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) and National Beverage (NASDAQ:FIZZ) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Risk and Volatility

PepsiCo has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Beverage has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares PepsiCo and National Beverage’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PepsiCo	8.77%	57.92%	10.62%
National Beverage	15.71%	36.00%	25.49%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares PepsiCo and National Beverage”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PepsiCo	$93.93 billion	2.29	$8.24 billion	$6.00	26.17
National Beverage	$1.20 billion	2.63	$186.82 million	$2.01	16.79

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

73.1% of PepsiCo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.0% of National Beverage shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of PepsiCo shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 74.7% of National Beverage shares are owned by company 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for PepsiCo and National Beverage, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PepsiCo	1	11	8	0	2.35
National Beverage	2	0	0	0	1.00

PepsiCo currently has a consensus price target of $169.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.64%. National Beverage has a consensus price target of $35.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.70%. Given PepsiCo’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe PepsiCo is more favorable than National Beverage.

Summary

PepsiCo beats National Beverage on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc. engages in the manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of various beverages and convenient foods worldwide. The company operates through seven segments: Frito-Lay North America; Quaker Foods North America; PepsiCo Beverages North America; Latin America; Europe; Africa, Middle East and South Asia; and Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand and China Region. It provides dips, cheese-flavored snacks, and spreads, as well as corn, potato, and tortilla chips; cereals, rice, pasta, mixes and syrups, granola bars, grits, oatmeal, rice cakes, and side dishes; beverage concentrates, fountain syrups, and finished goods; ready-to-drink tea, coffee, and juices; dairy products; and sparkling water makers and related products, as well as distributes alcoholic beverages under Hard MTN Dew brand. The company offers its products primarily under the Lay’s, Doritos, Fritos, Tostitos, BaiCaoWei, Cheetos, Cap’n Crunch, Life, Pearl Milling Company, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, Rice-A-Roni, Aquafina, Bubly, Emperador, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Gatorade Zero, Crush, Propel, Dr Pepper, Schweppes, Marias Gamesa, Ruffles, Sabritas, Saladitas, Tostitos, 7UP, Diet 7UP, H2oh!, Manzanita Sol, Mirinda, Pepsi Black, Pepsi Max, San Carlos, Toddy, Walkers, Chipsy, Kurkure, Sasko, Spekko, White Star, Smith’s, Sting, SodaStream, Lubimyj Sad, Agusha, Chudo, Domik v Derevne, Lipton, and other brands. It serves wholesale and other distributors, foodservice customers, grocery stores, drug stores, convenience stores, discount/dollar stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, hard discounters, e-commerce retailers and authorized independent bottlers, and others through a network of direct-store-delivery, customer warehouse, and distributor networks, as well as directly to consumers through e-commerce platforms and retailers. The company was founded in 1898 and is based in Purchase, New York.

About National Beverage

National Beverage Corp., through its subsidiaries, develops, produces, markets, and sells a portfolio of sparkling waters, juices, energy drinks, and carbonated soft drinks primarily in the United States and Canada. The company's Power+ brand portfolio offers sparkling water products under the LaCroix, LaCroix Cúrate, and LaCroix NiCola; non-carbonated flavored water under the Clear Fruit; energy drink and shots under the Rip It; juice and juice-based products under Everfresh, Everfresh Premier Varietals, and Mr. Pure; and carbonated soft drinks under Shasta and Faygo brands. It serves retailers, as well as various smaller up-and-down-the-street accounts through the take-home, convenience, and food-service distribution channels. National Beverage Corp. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.