Hershey (NYSE:HSY) & Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) Financial Contrast

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Hershey and Cal-Maine Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hershey	1	16	8	0	2.28
Cal-Maine Foods	0	5	1	0	2.17

Hershey currently has a consensus target price of $201.43, suggesting a potential upside of 23.09%. Cal-Maine Foods has a consensus target price of $84.17, suggesting a potential upside of 37.18%. Given Cal-Maine Foods’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cal-Maine Foods is more favorable than Hershey.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

58.0% of Hershey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.7% of Cal-Maine Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Hershey shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of Cal-Maine Foods shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Hershey has a beta of 0.1, indicating that its stock price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cal-Maine Foods has a beta of 0.25, indicating that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Hershey and Cal-Maine Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hershey	12.24%	31.92%	10.71%
Cal-Maine Foods	2.32%	2.21%	1.89%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Hershey and Cal-Maine Foods”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hershey	$12.16 billion	2.70	$883.26 million	$7.32	22.36
Cal-Maine Foods	$2.91 billion	0.98	$316.68 million	$1.17	52.44

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

Summary

Hershey beats Cal-Maine Foods on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hershey

The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; protein bars; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, bars, snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and pretzels. The company provides its products primarily under the Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kisses, Jolly Rancher, Almond Joy, Brookside, barkTHINS, Cadbury, Good & Plenty, Heath, Kit Kat, Payday, Rolo, Twizzlers, Whoppers, York, Ice Breakers, Breath Savers, Bubble Yum, Lily’s, SkinnyPop, Pirates Booty, Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels, and ONE Bar brands, as well as under the Pelon Pelo Rico, IO-IO, and Sofit brands. It markets and sells its products to wholesale distributors, chain grocery stores, mass merchandisers, chain drug stores, vending companies, wholesale clubs, convenience stores, dollar stores, concessionaires, and department stores. The company exports its products in approximately 80 countries worldwide. The Hershey Company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

About Cal-Maine Foods

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces, grades, packages, markets, and distributes shell eggs. The company offers specialty shell eggs, such as nutritionally enhanced, cage free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised, and brown eggs under the Egg-Land's Best, Land O' Lakes, Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, and 4Grain brand names. It sells its products to various customers, including national and regional grocery store chains, club stores, independent supermarkets, foodservice distributors, and egg product consumers primarily in the southwestern, southeastern, mid-western, and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi.