Critical Comparison: Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) versus Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ)

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) and Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Mission Produce and Utz Brands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mission Produce	0.12%	5.91%	3.41%
Utz Brands	-2.00%	8.97%	4.32%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Mission Produce and Utz Brands, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mission Produce	0	2	3	1	2.83
Utz Brands	1	9	1	0	2.00

Mission Produce presently has a consensus price target of $16.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.11%. Utz Brands has a consensus price target of $13.39, indicating a potential downside of 6.29%. Given Mission Produce’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Mission Produce is more favorable than Utz Brands.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.6% of Mission Produce shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.0% of Utz Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.8% of Mission Produce shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.7% of Utz Brands shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Mission Produce and Utz Brands”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mission Produce	$1.39 billion	0.76	$37.70 million	$0.03	400.67
Utz Brands	$1.44 billion	1.43	$800,000.00	($0.33)	-43.29

Mission Produce has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Utz Brands. Utz Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mission Produce, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Mission Produce has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Utz Brands has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Mission Produce beats Utz Brands on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mission Produce

Mission Produce, Inc. engages in the sourcing, farming, packaging, marketing, and distribution of avocados, mangoes, and blueberries to food retailers, distributors, and foodservice customers in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments, Marketing and Distribution; International Farming; and Blueberries. It also provides ripening, bagging, custom packing, logistical management, and quality assurance services. In addition, the company offers merchandising and promotional support, and insights on market trends, and training services. Mission Produce, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Oxnard, California.

About Utz Brands

Utz Brands, Inc. engages in manufacture, marketing, and distribution of snack foods. It offers a range of salty snacks, including salty snacks, including potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, pork skins, veggie snacks, pub/party mixes, tortilla chips, salsa and dips, ready-to-eat popcorn, and other snacks under the Utz, Zapp’s, ON THE BORDER, Golden Flake, Boulder Canyon, Hawaiian, TORTIYAHS!, etc. The company sells its products to wholesale and other distributors, grocery stores, convenience and drug stores, discount stores, mass merchandisers, membership club stores, hard discounters, and specialty and e-commerce retailers. Utz Brands, Inc. was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Hanover, Pennsylvania.