Reviewing Oatly Group (NASDAQ:OTLY) & Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW)

Oatly Group (NASDAQ:OTLY) and Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Oatly Group and Lamb Weston’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oatly Group	-9.51%	-2,479.86%	-11.98%
Lamb Weston	3.85%	23.27%	5.70%

Volatility and Risk

Oatly Group has a beta of 1.96, meaning that its stock price is 96% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lamb Weston has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

68.2% of Oatly Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.6% of Lamb Weston shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Oatly Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Lamb Weston shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Oatly Group and Lamb Weston, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oatly Group	1	1	4	0	2.50
Lamb Weston	0	9	3	1	2.38

Oatly Group currently has a consensus target price of $14.31, suggesting a potential upside of 75.48%. Lamb Weston has a consensus target price of $53.82, suggesting a potential downside of 4.88%. Given Oatly Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Oatly Group is more favorable than Lamb Weston.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Oatly Group and Lamb Weston”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oatly Group	$862.46 million	0.30	-$152.77 million	($2.84)	-2.87
Lamb Weston	$6.61 billion	1.18	$290.00 million	$1.83	30.92

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

Summary

Lamb Weston beats Oatly Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oatly Group

Oatly Group AB, an oatmilk company, provides a range of plant-based dairy products made from oats in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. It offers Barista edition oatmilk, oatgurts, frozen desserts, ice-creams, and yogurts; cooking products, including cooking cream, in regular and organic, Crème Fraiche, whipping cream, vanilla custard, and spreads in a variety of flavors; and ready-to-go drinks. The company was formerly known as Havre Global AB and changed its name to Oatly Group AB in March 2021. Oatly Group AB was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Malmö, Sweden.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. produces, distributes, and markets frozen potato products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. It offers frozen potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as under various customer labels. The company also provides its products under its owned or licensed brands, such as Grown in Idaho and Alexia, and other licensed brands, as well as under retailers' own brands. In addition, it engages in the vegetable and dairy businesses. The company sells its products through a network of internal sales personnel and independent brokers, agents, and distributors to chain restaurants, wholesale, grocery, mass merchants, club and specialty retailers, businesses, educational institutions, independent restaurants, regional chain restaurants, and convenience stores. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1950 and is headquartered in Eagle, Idaho.