Dole (NYSE:DOLE) vs. Coffee (NASDAQ:JVA) Financial Comparison

Coffee (NASDAQ:JVA) and Dole (NYSE:DOLE) 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 dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Coffee	$96.28 million	0.24	$1.40 million	$0.84	4.76
Dole	$9.17 billion	0.13	$51.32 million	$0.62	20.65

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Coffee and Dole, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Coffee	0	2	0	0	2.00
Dole	0	3	0	0	2.00

Coffee currently has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 137.50%. Dole has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.35%. Given Coffee’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Coffee is more favorable than Dole.

Profitability

This table compares Coffee and Dole’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Coffee	4.85%	16.20%	11.61%
Dole	0.63%	7.06%	2.33%

Volatility and Risk

Coffee has a beta of 1.41, meaning that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dole has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Coffee pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Dole pays an annual dividend of $0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Coffee pays out 9.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dole pays out 54.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Dole has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Dole is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Coffee beats Dole on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Coffee

Coffee Holding Co., Inc. engages in manufacturing, roasting, packaging, marketing, and distributing roasted and blended coffees in the United States, Australia, Canada, England, and China. It offers wholesale green coffee products, including unroasted raw beans that are sold to large, medium, and small roasters, as well as coffee shop operators; and roasts, blends, packages, and sells coffee under private labels in cans, brick packages, and instants of various sizes. The company also roasts and blends company label branded coffee to supermarkets, wholesalers, and individually owned stores; and sells tabletop coffee roasting equipment, instant coffees, and tea products for its customers. Its coffee brands include Cafe Caribe, Don Manuel, S&W, Cafe Supremo, Via Roma, Premier Roasters, and Harmony Bay. The company was formerly known as Transpacific International Group Corp and changed its name to Coffee Holding Co., Inc. in April 1998. Coffee Holding Co., Inc. was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Staten Island, New York.

About Dole

Dole Food Company, Inc. (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods. The fresh fruit segment contains operating divisions that produce and market fresh fruit to wholesale, retail and institutional customers worldwide. The fresh vegetables segment produces and markets fresh-packed and value-added vegetables and salads to wholesale, retail and institutional customers, primarily in North America and Europe. The packaged foods segment contains several operating divisions that produce and market packaged foods, including fruit, juices, frozen fruit and healthy snack foods. In November 2013, Dole Food Company, Inc announced that an investor group acquired the remaining 60.43% interest in the Company.