Comparing Marks and Spencer Group (OTCMKTS:MAKSY) & Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE)

Marks and Spencer Group (OTCMKTS:MAKSY) and Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Marks and Spencer Group and Andersons, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marks and Spencer Group	0	1	2	2	3.20
Andersons	0	1	3	1	3.00

Andersons has a consensus price target of $95.00, indicating a potential upside of 38.14%. Given Andersons’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Andersons is more favorable than Marks and Spencer Group.

Profitability

This table compares Marks and Spencer Group and Andersons’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marks and Spencer Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Andersons	1.62%	16.23%	5.84%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.1% of Andersons shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.3% of Andersons shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Marks and Spencer Group pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Andersons pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Andersons pays out 15.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Andersons has increased its dividend for 28 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

Marks and Spencer Group has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Andersons has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Marks and Spencer Group and Andersons”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marks and Spencer Group	$23.15 billion	0.47	$347.67 million	N/A	N/A
Andersons	$11.01 billion	0.21	$95.71 million	$5.18	13.28

Marks and Spencer Group has higher revenue and earnings than Andersons.

About Marks and Spencer Group

Marks and Spencer Group plc operates various retail stores. It operates through five segments: UK Clothing & Home, UK Food, International, Ocado, and All Other. The company offers protein deli and dairy; produce; ambient and in-store bakery; meals dessert and frozen; and hospitality and Food on the Move' products. The company also provides womenswear, menswear, lingerie, kids wear, and home products; financial services, including credit cards, payment solutions, insurances, savings, and loans; and renewable energy services. In addition, it invests in and develops real estate properties; operates international franchises; and provides its products online. The company also exports its products. The company was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About Andersons

The Andersons, Inc. operates in trade, renewables, and nutrient and industrial sectors in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Egypt, Switzerland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Trade, Renewables, and Nutrient & Industrial. The company’s Trade segment operates grain elevators; stores commodities; and provides grain marketing, risk management, and origination services, as well as sells commodities, such as corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, ethanol, and corn oil. This segment also engages in the commodity merchandising business, as well as offers logistics for physical commodities, such as whole grains, grain products, feed ingredients, domestic fuel products, and other agricultural commodities. Its Renewables segment produces, purchases, and sells ethanol, and co-products, as well as offers facility operations, risk management, and marketing services to the ethanol plants it invests in and operates. The company’s Nutrient & Industrial segment manufactures, distributes, and retails agricultural and related plant nutrients, liquid industrial products, corncob-based products, and pelleted lime and gypsum products, as well as turf fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide products; and crop nutrients, crop protection chemicals, and seed products, as well as provides application and agronomic services to commercial and family farmers. In addition, this segment produces corncob-based products for laboratory animal bedding and private-label cat litter, as well as absorbents, blast cleaners, carriers, and polishers; professional lawn care products for golf course and turf care markets; fertilizer and weed, and pest control products; dry and liquid agricultural nutrients, pelleted lime, gypsum, and soil amendments; and micronutrients, as well as industrial products comprising nitrogen reagents, calcium nitrate, deicers, and dust abatement products. The Andersons, Inc. was founded in 1947 and is based in Maumee, Ohio.