Analyzing ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) and Unilever (NYSE:UL)

Unilever (NYSE:UL) and ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Unilever and ARKO”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unilever	$65.76 billion	2.16	$6.22 billion	N/A	N/A
ARKO	$8.73 billion	0.06	$20.84 million	$0.11	41.68

Unilever has higher revenue and earnings than ARKO.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Unilever and ARKO, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unilever	3	1	6	2	2.58
ARKO	1	3	1	1	2.33

Unilever presently has a consensus target price of $71.11, indicating a potential upside of 9.01%. ARKO has a consensus target price of $7.13, indicating a potential upside of 55.40%. Given ARKO’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ARKO is more favorable than Unilever.

Dividends

Unilever pays an annual dividend of $2.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. ARKO pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. ARKO pays out 109.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Volatility & Risk

Unilever has a beta of 0.36, suggesting that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ARKO has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.7% of Unilever shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.3% of ARKO shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Unilever shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.5% of ARKO shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Unilever and ARKO’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unilever	N/A	N/A	N/A
ARKO	0.24%	6.95%	0.52%

Summary

Unilever beats ARKO on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Unilever

Unilever PLC operates as a fast-moving consumer goods company in the Asia Pacific, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through five segments: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream. The Beauty & Wellbeing segment engages in the sale of hair care products, such as shampoo, conditioner, and styling; skin care products including face, hand, and body moisturizer; and prestige beauty and health & wellbeing products consist of the vitamins, minerals, and supplements. The Personal Care segment offers skin cleansing products comprising soap and shower; deodorants; and oral care products, such as toothpaste, toothbrush, and mouthwash products. The Home Care segment is involved in the sale of fabric care products, including washing powders and liquids, and rinse conditioners; and fabric enhancers, and home and hygiene products. The Nutrition segment provides dressings products, such as mayonnaise and ketchup; sells scratch cooking aids consist of soups, bouillons, and seasonings; plant-based meat; beverages; and functional nutrition products, including Horlicks and Boost, as well as tea products. The Ice Cream segment offers ice cream products including in-home and out-of-home ice creams. The company provides its products under the AXE, Ben & Jerry's, Cif, Clear, Closeup, Comfort, Cornetto, Dermalogica, Domestos, Dove, Dove Men+Care, Hellmann's, Horlicks, Knorr, LUX, Lifebuoy, Liquid I.V., Magnum, Nutrafol, OMO, Paula's Choice, Pepsodent, Pond's, Rexona, Rexona, Sunlight, Sunsilk, Surf, TRESemmé, Vaseline, Wall's, Breyers, and Yasso brand names. Unilever PLC was founded in 1860 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About ARKO

Arko Corp. operates convenience stores in the United States. It operates through Retail, Wholesale, Fleet Fueling, and GPMP segments. The Retail segment engages in the sale of fuel and merchandise to retail consumers. Its Wholesale segment supplies fuel to third-party dealers and consignment agents. The Fleet Fueling segment supplies fuel to proprietary and third-party cardlock, and issuance of proprietary fuel cards. Its GPMP segment supplies fuel to retail and wholesale segments. The company is based in Richmond, Virginia.