Reviewing Niagen Bioscience (NASDAQ:NAGE) and Nature’s Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR)

Niagen Bioscience (NASDAQ:NAGE) and Nature’s Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Niagen Bioscience and Nature’s Sunshine Products’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Niagen Bioscience	12.39%	17.95%	13.17%
Nature’s Sunshine Products	3.68%	12.88%	8.17%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Niagen Bioscience and Nature’s Sunshine Products, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Niagen Bioscience	0	1	3	1	3.00
Nature’s Sunshine Products	0	1	2	0	2.67

Niagen Bioscience currently has a consensus price target of $10.33, suggesting a potential upside of 230.14%. Nature’s Sunshine Products has a consensus price target of $30.50, suggesting a potential upside of 119.90%. Given Niagen Bioscience’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Niagen Bioscience is more favorable than Nature’s Sunshine Products.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

15.4% of Niagen Bioscience shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.4% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are held by institutional investors. 10.0% of Niagen Bioscience shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are held 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Niagen Bioscience and Nature’s Sunshine Products”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Niagen Bioscience	$129.42 million	1.93	$17.38 million	$0.18	17.39
Nature’s Sunshine Products	$480.14 million	0.51	$19.52 million	$1.01	13.73

Nature’s Sunshine Products has higher revenue and earnings than Niagen Bioscience. Nature’s Sunshine Products is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Niagen Bioscience, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Niagen Bioscience has a beta of 2.09, indicating that its stock price is 109% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nature’s Sunshine Products has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Niagen Bioscience beats Nature’s Sunshine Products on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Niagen Bioscience

Niagen Bioscience, Inc. is a global bioscience company, which engages in acquiring, developing, and commercializing proprietary-based ingredient technologies. It is pioneering research on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). The company’s patent portfolio includes Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) and other NAD+ precursors, which are commercialized as the flagship ingredient Niagen. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Products, Ingredients, and Analytical Reference Standards and Services. The Consumer Products segment provides finished dietary supplement products that contain the firm’s proprietary ingredients directly to consumers as well as to distributors. The Ingredients segment supplies ingredients as raw materials to the manufacturers of consumer products. The Analytical Reference Standards and Services segment includes supply of phytochemical reference standards and other research and development services. The company was founded by Mark S. Germain and Frank L. Jaksch, Jr. in 1999 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.

About Nature’s Sunshine Products

Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc., a natural health and wellness company, manufactures and sells nutritional and personal care products in Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and internationally. It offers general health products related to blood sugar support, bone health, cellular health, cognitive function, joint health, mood, sexual health, sleep, sports and energy, and vision. The company also provides immunity, cardiovascular, and digestive products; and personal care products, such as oils and lotions, aloe vera gels, herbal shampoos, herbal skin treatment, toothpaste, and skin cleansers, as well as weight management products. It offers its products under the Nature’s Sunshine and Synergy WorldWide brands through a sales force of independent consultants. Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Lehi, Utah.