Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) and Village Super Market (NASDAQ:VLGEA) Head-To-Head Contrast

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) and Village Super Market (NASDAQ:VLGEA) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Casey’s General Stores and Village Super Market, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Casey’s General Stores	0	5	16	0	2.76
Village Super Market	0	0	1	0	3.00

Casey’s General Stores presently has a consensus target price of $835.38, suggesting a potential upside of 20.16%. Given Casey’s General Stores’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Casey’s General Stores is more favorable than Village Super Market.

Dividends

Casey’s General Stores pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Village Super Market pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Casey’s General Stores pays out 12.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Village Super Market pays out 28.2% 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. Casey’s General Stores has raised its dividend for 27 consecutive years.

Risk & Volatility

Casey’s General Stores has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Village Super Market has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Casey’s General Stores and Village Super Market”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Casey’s General Stores	$17.56 billion	1.46	$714.45 million	$20.76	33.49
Village Super Market	$2.41 billion	0.27	$52.46 million	$3.55	12.23

Casey’s General Stores has higher revenue and earnings than Village Super Market. Village Super Market is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Casey’s General Stores, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Casey’s General Stores and Village Super Market’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Casey’s General Stores	4.14%	19.68%	8.77%
Village Super Market	2.18%	10.23%	5.17%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

85.6% of Casey’s General Stores shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of Village Super Market shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Casey’s General Stores shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 59.1% of Village Super Market shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Casey’s General Stores beats Village Super Market on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Casey’s General Stores

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. engages in the provision of management and operation of convenience stores and gasoline stations. It provides self-service gasoline, a wide selection of grocery items, and an array of freshly prepared food items. The firm offers food, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty aids, automotive products, and other non-food items. The company was founded by Donald F. Lamberti in 1968 and is headquartered in Ankeny, IA.

About Village Super Market

Village Super Market, Inc. operates a chain of supermarkets in the United States. The company offers grocery, meat, produce, dairy, deli, seafood, prepared foods, and bakery and frozen foods. It also provides non-food products, including health and beauty care, general merchandise, liquor, and pharmacy products through retail and online stores. Village Super Market, Inc. was founded in 1937 and is based in Springfield, New Jersey.