Analyzing Celsius (NASDAQ:CELH) & United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI)

Celsius (NASDAQ:CELH) and United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) are both mid-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Celsius and United Natural Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Celsius	0	3	20	0	2.87
United Natural Foods	1	6	3	0	2.20

Celsius presently has a consensus price target of $65.89, suggesting a potential upside of 95.05%. United Natural Foods has a consensus price target of $43.63, suggesting a potential downside of 10.37%. Given Celsius’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Celsius is more favorable than United Natural Foods.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

61.0% of Celsius shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.6% of United Natural Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Celsius shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of United Natural Foods shares are held 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 Celsius and United Natural Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Celsius	4.29%	37.68%	9.62%
United Natural Foods	-0.25%	6.05%	1.27%

Volatility and Risk

Celsius has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Natural Foods has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Celsius and United Natural Foods”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Celsius	$2.52 billion	3.45	$108.00 million	$0.25	135.12
United Natural Foods	$31.78 billion	0.09	-$118.00 million	($1.30)	-37.44

Celsius has higher earnings, but lower revenue than United Natural Foods. United Natural Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Celsius, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Celsius beats United Natural Foods on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Celsius

Celsius Holdings, Inc. develops, processes, markets, distributes, and sells functional energy drinks and liquid supplements in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canadian, European, Middle Eastern, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers CELSIUS, a fitness drink or supplement designed to accelerate metabolism and burn body fat; various flavors and carbonated and non-carbonated functional energy drinks under the CELSIUS Originals and Vibe name, as well as functional energy drink under the CELSIUS Essentials and CELSIUS On-the-Go Powder names; and CELSIUS ready-to drink products. It distributes its products through direct-to-store delivery, distributors, supermarkets, convenience stores, drug stores, nutritional stores, and mass merchants, as well as health clubs, gyms, the military, and e-commerce websites. The company was formerly known as Vector Ventures, Inc. and changed its name to Celsius Holdings, Inc. in January 2007. Celsius Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.

About United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes natural, organic, specialty, produce, and conventional grocery and non-food products in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The company offers grocery and general merchandise, produce, perishables and frozen foods, wellness and personal care items, and bulk and foodservice products. It also provides nuts, dried fruit, seeds, trail mixes, granola, natural and organic snack items, and confections under the Woodstock Farms Manufacturing name; organic, non-GMO project verified, and specialty food and non-food items under the Blue Marble brand name; pet food under the WILD HARVEST brand name; and various products under the ESSENTIAL EVERYDAY, SHOPPERS VALUE, Field Day, EQUALINE, CULINARY CIRCLE, and STONE RIDGE CREAMERY brand names. In addition, the company provides home, health and beauty care, and pharmacy products, as well as private label products through a network of Cub Foods and Shoppers retail grocery stores; and retail store support, pricing strategy, shelf and planogram management, advertising, couponing, ecommerce, consumer convenience, store design, equipment sourcing, electronic payments processing, network and data hosting, point-of-sale hardware and software, automation tools, sustainability, and administrative back-office solution services. Further, it offers consumer and trade marketing programs, and programs to support suppliers in understanding its markets. The company serves chains, independent retailers, and supernatural chains, as well as foodservice, ecommerce, conventional military business, and other sales customers. United Natural Foods, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.