Analyzing George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) and Celsius (NASDAQ:CELH)

Celsius (NASDAQ:CELH) and George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Celsius and George Weston, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Celsius	1	3	13	0	2.71
George Weston	0	2	0	1	2.67

Celsius presently has a consensus price target of $45.18, indicating a potential downside of 2.69%. Given Celsius’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Celsius is more favorable than George Weston.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

61.0% of Celsius shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of George Weston shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Celsius shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 53.6% of George Weston shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Celsius and George Weston”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Celsius	$1.36 billion	8.83	$145.07 million	$0.32	145.08
George Weston	$44.97 billion	0.56	$991.80 million	$6.27	31.27

George Weston has higher revenue and earnings than Celsius. George Weston is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Celsius, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Celsius and George Weston’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Celsius	8.40%	42.12%	10.05%
George Weston	1.92%	12.68%	3.29%

Risk & Volatility

Celsius has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, George Weston has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Celsius beats George Weston on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Celsius

Celsius Holdings, Inc. develops, processes, markets, distributes, and sells functional energy drinks and liquid supplements in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canadian, European, Middle Eastern, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers CELSIUS, a fitness drink or supplement designed to accelerate metabolism and burn body fat; various flavors and carbonated and non-carbonated functional energy drinks under the CELSIUS Originals and Vibe name, as well as functional energy drink under the CELSIUS Essentials and CELSIUS On-the-Go Powder names; and CELSIUS ready-to drink products. It distributes its products through direct-to-store delivery, distributors, supermarkets, convenience stores, drug stores, nutritional stores, and mass merchants, as well as health clubs, gyms, the military, and e-commerce websites. The company was formerly known as Vector Ventures, Inc. and changed its name to Celsius Holdings, Inc. in January 2007. Celsius Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.

About George Weston

George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services. This segment also offers credit card and other banking services, insurance brokerage services, guaranteed investment certificates, and wireless mobile products and services. The Choice Properties segment owns, operates, manages, and develops retail commercial and residential properties, leased to necessity-based tenants, industrial, and mixed-use and residential assets. It markets its products under the Shoppers Drug Mart, Joe Fresh, President’s Choice Bank, no name, Farmer’s Market, T&T, Life Brand, and PC Optimum brands. The company was founded in 1882 and is based in Toronto, Canada. George Weston Limited operates as a subsidiary of Wittington Investments, Limited.