John B. Sanfilippo & Son (NASDAQ:JBSS) & J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) Head to Head Review

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) and John B. Sanfilippo & Son (NASDAQ:JBSS) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Dividends

J & J Snack Foods pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. John B. Sanfilippo & Son pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. J & J Snack Foods pays out 107.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. John B. Sanfilippo & Son pays out 15.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. J & J Snack Foods has increased its dividend for 20 consecutive years and John B. Sanfilippo & Son has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. J & J Snack Foods is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares J & J Snack Foods and John B. Sanfilippo & Son”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
J & J Snack Foods	$1.58 billion	0.90	$65.60 million	$2.98	25.50
John B. Sanfilippo & Son	$1.11 billion	0.92	$58.93 million	$5.70	15.21

J & J Snack Foods has higher revenue and earnings than John B. Sanfilippo & Son. John B. Sanfilippo & Son is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than J & J Snack Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for J & J Snack Foods and John B. Sanfilippo & Son, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
J & J Snack Foods	2	0	1	0	1.67
John B. Sanfilippo & Son	0	3	1	0	2.25

J & J Snack Foods currently has a consensus target price of $120.00, indicating a potential upside of 57.92%. John B. Sanfilippo & Son has a consensus target price of $109.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.76%. Given J & J Snack Foods’ higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe J & J Snack Foods is more favorable than John B. Sanfilippo & Son.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

76.0% of J & J Snack Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.6% of John B. Sanfilippo & Son shares are held by institutional investors. 20.4% of J & J Snack Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 30.2% of John B. Sanfilippo & Son shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

J & J Snack Foods has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, John B. Sanfilippo & Son has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares J & J Snack Foods and John B. Sanfilippo & Son’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
J & J Snack Foods	3.75%	9.01%	6.18%
John B. Sanfilippo & Son	5.76%	18.11%	10.88%

About J & J Snack Foods

J&J Snack Foods Corp. engages in the manufacturing of nutritional snack foods and distribution of frozen beverages to the food service and retail supermarket industries. It operates through the following segments: Food Service, Retail Supermarkets, and Frozen Beverages. The Food Service segment includes soft pretzels, frozen novelties, churros, handheld products, and baked goods. The Retail Supermarkets segment offers soft pretzel products including Superpretzel, frozen juice treats and desserts, including Luigi’s real Italian ice, Minute Maid juice bars and soft frozen lemonade, Whole Fruit frozen fruit bars and sorbet, Philly Swirl cups and sticks, ICEE Squeeze-Up Tubes and dough enrobed handheld products including Patio burritos. The Frozen Beverages segment provides frozen beverages to the food service industry primarily under the names ICEE, SLUSH PUPPIE, and PARROT ICE in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, as well as repair and maintenance services. The company was founded by Gerald B. Shreiber in 1971 and is headquartered in Mount Laurel, NJ.

About John B. Sanfilippo & Son

John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. engages in the processing and distribution of nuts and nut-related products. It offers peanuts, pecans, cashews, walnuts, almonds, and other nuts under the brands of Fisher, Orchard Valley Harvest, Squirrel Brand, and Southern Style Nuts. The company was founded by Gaspare Sanfilippo and John B. Sanfilippo in 1922 and is headquartered in Elgin, IL.