Comparing Ingredion (INGR) & The Competition

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) is one of 328 publicly-traded companies in the “Food Products” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Ingredion to similar businesses based on the strength of its profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ingredion and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ingredion	$7.22 billion	$729.00 million	10.59
Ingredion Competitors	$7.02 billion	$707.08 million	-2,414.37

Ingredion has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Ingredion is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

Ingredion has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ingredion’s peers have a beta of -3.83, meaning that their average stock price is 483% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Ingredion pays an annual dividend of $3.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Ingredion pays out 36.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Food Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 12.4% and pay out 29.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Ingredion has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Ingredion lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Ingredion and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ingredion	0	8	1	0	2.11
Ingredion Competitors	2435	8279	8358	401	2.35

Ingredion currently has a consensus target price of $120.29, indicating a potential upside of 23.87%. As a group, “Food Products” companies have a potential upside of 18.79%. Given Ingredion’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Ingredion is more favorable than its peers.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

85.3% of Ingredion shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Ingredion shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 18.8% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Ingredion and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ingredion	8.21%	15.40%	8.48%
Ingredion Competitors	-13.54%	-450.68%	-2.55%

Summary

Ingredion beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Ingredion Company Profile

Ingredion Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells sweeteners, starches, nutrition ingredients, and biomaterial solutions derived from wet milling and processing corn, and other starch-based materials to a range of industries in North America, South America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers starch products for use in a range of processed foods; cornstarch; specialty paper starches for enhanced drainage, fiber retention, oil and grease resistance, improved printability, and biochemical oxygen demand control; starches and specialty starches for textile industry; industrial starches are used in the production of construction materials, textiles, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, as well as in mining and water filtration; and specialty industrial starches for use in biomaterial applications, including biodegradable plastics, fabric softeners and detergents, hair and skin care applications, dusting powders for surgical gloves, and in the production of glass fiber and insulation. It also provides sweetener products comprising glucose syrups, high maltose syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, polyols, maltodextrin, glucose syrup solids, and non-genetically modified organism syrups for applications in food and beverage products, such as baked goods, snack foods, canned fruits, condiments, candy and other sweets, dairy products, ice cream, jams and jellies, prepared mixes, table syrups, and beverages. In addition, the company sells refined corn oil, corn gluten feed, and corn gluten meal; and other products, including fruit and vegetable products, such as concentrates, purees, and essences, as well as pulse proteins and hydrocolloids systems and blends. The company was formerly known as Corn Products International, Inc. and changed its name to Ingredion Incorporated in June 2012. Ingredion Incorporated was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Westchester, Illinois.