Critical Contrast: Origin Agritech (NASDAQ:SEED) & Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM)

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) and Origin Agritech (NASDAQ:SEED) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Archer Daniels Midland and Origin Agritech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Archer Daniels Midland	1.33%	8.43%	3.55%
Origin Agritech	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Archer Daniels Midland and Origin Agritech, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Archer Daniels Midland	1	6	1	0	2.00
Origin Agritech	0	0	0	0	0.00

Archer Daniels Midland currently has a consensus price target of $55.50, suggesting a potential downside of 6.07%. Given Archer Daniels Midland’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Archer Daniels Midland is more favorable than Origin Agritech.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Archer Daniels Midland and Origin Agritech”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Archer Daniels Midland	$85.53 billion	0.33	$1.80 billion	$2.27	26.03
Origin Agritech	$93.68 million	0.12	$2.95 million	N/A	N/A

Archer Daniels Midland has higher revenue and earnings than Origin Agritech.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

78.3% of Archer Daniels Midland shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.7% of Origin Agritech shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Archer Daniels Midland shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.4% of Origin Agritech shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Archer Daniels Midland has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Origin Agritech has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Archer Daniels Midland beats Origin Agritech on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Archer Daniels Midland

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company engages in the procurement, transportation, storage, processing, and merchandising of agricultural commodities, ingredients, flavors, and solutions in the United States, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions, and Nutrition. The company originates, merchandises, stores, and transports agricultural raw materials, such as oilseeds and soft seeds. It also engages in the agricultural commodity and feed product import, export, and distribution; and various structured trade finance activities. In addition, the company offers soybean meal and oil; vegetable and salad oils and protein meals; ingredients for the food, feed, energy, and industrial customers; margarine, shortening, and other food products; and partially refined oils to produce biodiesel and glycols for use in chemicals, paints, and other industrial products. Further, it provides peanuts, peanut-derived ingredients, and cotton cellulose pulp; sweeteners, corn and wheat starches, syrup, glucose, wheat flour, and dextrose; alcohol, and other food and animal feed ingredients; ethyl alcohol and ethanol; corn gluten feed and meal; distillers' grains; corn germ; and citric acids. Additionally, the company provides proteins, natural flavors, flavor systems, natural colors, emulsifiers, soluble fiber, polyols, hydrocolloids, probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics, enzymes, and botanical extracts; and other specialty food and feed ingredients; edible beans; formula feeds, and animal health and nutrition products; and contract and private label pet treats and food products. It also offers futures commission merchant; commodity brokerage services; cash margins and securities pledged to commodity exchange clearinghouse; and cash pledged as security under certain insurance arrangements. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Origin Agritech

Origin Agritech Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an agricultural biotechnology in the People’s Republic of China. The company engages in the development and distribution of seed products; and research on genetically enhanced breeding technologies in agricultural crops. Its products include corn, soybean, canola, and rice seeds. The company is also involved in the development, production, and distribution of hybrid crop seeds, as well as develops hybrid seed technology. In addition, it operates an e-commerce platform. The company has a collaboration agreement with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the National Maize Improvement Center, Henan Agriculture University, China Agricultural University, and Zhejiang University for seed genetic modifications and biotechnologies. Origin Agritech Limited was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.