Contrasting Unicharm (OTCMKTS:UNICY) and Nature’s Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR)

Nature’s Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) and Unicharm (OTCMKTS:UNICY) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

79.4% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Nature’s Sunshine Products and Unicharm, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nature’s Sunshine Products	0	1	2	0	2.67
Unicharm	0	2	0	0	2.00

Nature’s Sunshine Products currently has a consensus target price of $30.50, indicating a potential upside of 148.57%. Given Nature’s Sunshine Products’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Nature’s Sunshine Products is more favorable than Unicharm.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nature’s Sunshine Products and Unicharm”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nature’s Sunshine Products	$480.14 million	0.45	$19.52 million	$1.01	12.15
Unicharm	$6.32 billion	1.81	$436.93 million	$0.13	25.23

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nature’s Sunshine Products	3.68%	12.88%	8.17%
Unicharm	6.65%	7.19%	5.28%

Risk & Volatility

Nature’s Sunshine Products has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unicharm has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Nature’s Sunshine Products beats Unicharm on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Unicharm

Unicharm Corporation engages in the manufacturing and sale of wellness, feminine, baby and children, kirei, and pet care products in Japan and internationally. The company's baby and child care products, including disposable diapers and wipes under the Moony, MamyPoko, Oyasumiman, and Torepanman brands; feminine care products comprise napkins, tampons, panty liners, sanitary short, panty liners, and other feminine care products under the Sofy, Center-In, and Unicharm brand names; and wellness care products include napkin-type incontinence pads, pants-type diapers, tape-type diapers, pants-type specialized urine pads, and tape-type specialized urine pads under the Lifree and Charmnap brand. It also provides masks under the Unicharm brand; home care products, including cleaning sheets under the Wave brand name; cosmetic cotton and wet wipes under the Silcot brand; and paper towels under the Cook Up brand name. In addition, the company offers pet care products that include pet foods, excrement cleanup sheets, system toilets, and disposable diapers under the Grand Deli, Best Balance, Physicalife Dog, Silver Plate, Aiken Genki, Manner Wear, Deo Sheet, Silver Spoon, AllWell, Physicalife Cat, Deo Toilet, Deo Sand, Deo Clean, and Neko Genki brands; and deodorizing beads. Further, it is involved in the manufacture and sale of industrial materials related products, etc., as well as food-packaging materials. Unicharm Corporation was incorporated in 1941 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.