Head to Head Survey: Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) vs. MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI)

Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) and MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Dividends

Molson Coors Beverage pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. MGP Ingredients pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Molson Coors Beverage pays out -18.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MGP Ingredients pays out -4.3% 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. Molson Coors Beverage has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Molson Coors Beverage is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Molson Coors Beverage and MGP Ingredients’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Molson Coors Beverage	-16.14%	9.79%	4.63%
MGP Ingredients	-45.70%	7.48%	4.44%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Molson Coors Beverage and MGP Ingredients”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Molson Coors Beverage	$11.19 billion	0.70	-$2.14 billion	($10.64)	-3.91
MGP Ingredients	$536.38 million	0.66	-$107.81 million	($11.14)	-1.48

MGP Ingredients has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Molson Coors Beverage. Molson Coors Beverage is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MGP Ingredients, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.5% of Molson Coors Beverage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.1% of MGP Ingredients shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of Molson Coors Beverage shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 31.7% of MGP Ingredients shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Molson Coors Beverage and MGP Ingredients, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Molson Coors Beverage	4	11	4	0	2.00
MGP Ingredients	1	2	3	0	2.33

Molson Coors Beverage currently has a consensus target price of $44.88, suggesting a potential upside of 8.00%. MGP Ingredients has a consensus target price of $27.75, suggesting a potential upside of 68.18%. Given MGP Ingredients’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MGP Ingredients is more favorable than Molson Coors Beverage.

Risk & Volatility

Molson Coors Beverage has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MGP Ingredients has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Molson Coors Beverage beats MGP Ingredients on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Molson Coors Beverage

Molson Coors Beverage Company manufactures, markets, and sells beer and other malt beverage products under various brands in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers flavored malt beverages including hard seltzers, craft, spirits and energy, and ready to drink beverages. It provides its products under Aspall Cider, Blue Moon, Coors Original, Five Trail, Hop Valley brands, Leinenkugel’s, Madri, Miller Genuine Draft, Molson Ultra, Sharp’s, Staropramen, and Vizzy Hard Seltzer above premier brands; Bergenbier, Borsodi, Carling, Coors Banquet, Coors Light, Jelen, Kamenitza, Miller Lite, Molson Canadian, and Niksicko, Ozujsko under the premium brands; and Branik, Icehouse, Keystone, Miller High Life, Milwaukee’s Best, and Steel Reserve under the economy brands. The company was formerly known as Molson Coors Brewing Company and changed its name to Molson Coors Beverage Company in January 2020. Molson Coors Beverage Company was founded in 1774 and is based in Golden, Colorado.

About MGP Ingredients

MGP Ingredients, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and supply of distilled spirits, branded spirits, and food ingredients in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Distillery Solutions; Branded Spirits; and Ingredient Solutions. The Distillery Solutions segment provides food grade alcohol for beverage applications that include bourbon, rye, whiskeys, as well as grain neutral spirits, include vodka and gin; and food-grade industrial alcohol, which is used as an ingredient in food products, personal care products, cleaning solutions, pharmaceuticals, and various other products. This segment also offers distillery co-products, such as dried distillers’ grain, fuel-grade alcohol for blending with gasoline, and corn oil; and provides warehouse services, including barrel put away, barrel storage, and barrel retrieval services, as well as blending services. The Branded Spirits segment provides premium plus, ultra-premium, super premium, premium, mid, and value branded distilled spirits, as well as private label products. The Ingredient Solutions segment provides specialty wheat starches for food applications under the Fibersym, Resistant Starch series, and FiberRite RW Resistant Starch names; specialty wheat proteins for food applications under the Arise and Proterra names; gluten-free textured pea proteins; commodity wheat starch for food and non-food applications; and commodity wheat proteins. It sells its products directly or through distributors to manufacturers and processors of finished packaged goods or to bakeries. The company was founded in 1941 and is based in Atchison, Kansas.