Comparing Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) and Marine Harvest ASA (OTCMKTS:MHGVY)

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) and Marine Harvest ASA (OTCMKTS:MHGVY) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

Vital Farms has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marine Harvest ASA has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Vital Farms and Marine Harvest ASA”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vital Farms	$759.44 million	0.47	$66.28 million	($0.04)	-210.00
Marine Harvest ASA	$6.47 billion	1.77	$708.93 million	$1.42	15.27

Marine Harvest ASA has higher revenue and earnings than Vital Farms. Vital Farms is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marine Harvest ASA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Vital Farms and Marine Harvest ASA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vital Farms	0.02%	3.46%	2.25%
Marine Harvest ASA	11.19%	11.74%	5.29%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Vital Farms and Marine Harvest ASA, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vital Farms	1	8	5	0	2.29
Marine Harvest ASA	0	3	0	2	2.80

Vital Farms presently has a consensus price target of $16.73, suggesting a potential upside of 99.13%. Given Vital Farms’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vital Farms is more favorable than Marine Harvest ASA.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.6% of Vital Farms shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of Vital Farms shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Marine Harvest ASA beats Vital Farms on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vital Farms

Vital Farms, Inc., a food company, provides pasture-raised products in the United States. It offers shell eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs, and liquid whole eggs. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Marine Harvest ASA

Mowi ASA, a seafood company, farms, produces, and supplies Atlantic salmon products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Feed, Farming, and Sales and Marketing. The company is involved in the salmon feed production, salmon farming and primary processing, and seafood secondary processing activities. It offers whole fish, plain and marinated fillets and steaks, hot- and cold-smoked salmon, burgers and tartars, patties, gravad, sushi, and breaded products under the Ducktrap, MOWI, and Supreme Salmon brands. The company was formerly known as Marine Harvest ASA and changed its name to Mowi ASA in December 2018. Mowi ASA was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Bergen, Norway.