Head to Head Analysis: Alico (NASDAQ:ALCO) & Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW)

Alico (NASDAQ:ALCO) and Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Alico and Calavo Growers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alico	-284.75%	-41.08%	-25.79%
Calavo Growers	1.50%	11.79%	7.38%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

62.3% of Alico shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.3% of Calavo Growers shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.3% of Alico shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.2% of Calavo Growers shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Alico and Calavo Growers”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alico	$49.42 million	4.83	$6.97 million	($18.43)	-1.70
Calavo Growers	$661.54 million	0.75	-$1.08 million	$0.58	47.84

Alico has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Calavo Growers. Alico is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Calavo Growers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Alico has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Calavo Growers has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Alico pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Calavo Growers pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Alico pays out -1.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Calavo Growers pays out 137.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Calavo Growers has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Calavo Growers is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Alico and Calavo Growers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alico	0	0	0	0	0.00
Calavo Growers	0	0	1	0	3.00

Calavo Growers has a consensus price target of $35.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.13%. Given Calavo Growers’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Calavo Growers is more favorable than Alico.

Summary

Calavo Growers beats Alico on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alico

Alico, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an agribusiness and land management company in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Alico Citrus, and Land Management and Other Operations. The Alico Citrus segment engages in planting, owning, cultivating, and/or managing citrus groves to produce fruit for sale to fresh and processed citrus markets, including activities related to the purchase and resale of fruit and value-added services, which include contracting for the harvesting, marketing, and hauling of citrus. The Land Management and Other Operations segment is involved in the activities related to native plant sales, grazing and hunting leasing, management, and/or conservation of unimproved native pastureland; and activities related to rock mining royalties and other insignificant lines of business, as well as in the activities related to owning and/or leasing improved farmland. The company was incorporated in 1960 and is based in Fort Myers, Florida.

About Calavo Growers

Calavo Growers, Inc. markets and distributes avocados, prepared avocados, and other perishable foods to retail grocery and foodservice customers, club stores, mass merchandisers, food distributors, and wholesale customers worldwide. It operates through Grown and Prepared segments. The Grown segment distributes tomatoes and papayas; and procures avocados grown in California, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. The Prepared segment is involved in the distribution of prepared avocado products, salsa, fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, fresh prepared entrees salads, wraps, sandwiches, parfaits, and fresh snacking products, as well as ready-to-heat entrees, other hot bars and various deli items, meals kit components, and salad kits. It offers its products under the Calavo brands and related logos; and Avo Fresco, Bueno, Avo Fresco, Bueno, Calavo Gold, Celebrate the Taste, El Dorado, Taste of Paradise, The First Name in Avocados, The Family of Fresh, ProRipeVIP, RIPE NOW!, Renaissance Food Group, Garden Highway Fresh Cut, Garden Highway, and Garden Highway Chef Essentials trademarks. Calavo Growers, Inc. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Santa Paula, California.