Reviewing Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and Bunge Global (NYSE:BG)

Bunge Global (NYSE:BG) and Hershey (NYSE:HSY) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Bunge Global and Hershey, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bunge Global	0	3	8	0	2.73
Hershey	1	17	7	0	2.24

Bunge Global presently has a consensus price target of $129.89, indicating a potential upside of 34.56%. Hershey has a consensus price target of $195.24, indicating a potential upside of 17.72%. Given Bunge Global’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Bunge Global is more favorable than Hershey.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Bunge Global and Hershey”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bunge Global	$70.33 billion	0.26	$816.00 million	$5.95	16.22
Hershey	$11.69 billion	2.85	$883.26 million	$8.84	18.76

Hershey has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Bunge Global. Bunge Global is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hershey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.2% of Bunge Global shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.0% of Hershey shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Bunge Global shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Hershey shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Bunge Global pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Hershey pays an annual dividend of $5.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Bunge Global pays out 48.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hershey pays out 65.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Hershey has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Hershey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Bunge Global has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hershey has a beta of 0.1, meaning that its stock price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Bunge Global and Hershey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bunge Global	1.24%	9.34%	3.46%
Hershey	14.63%	37.12%	12.59%

Summary

Hershey beats Bunge Global on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bunge Global

Bunge Global SA operates as an agribusiness and food company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Agribusiness, Refined and Specialty Oils, Milling, and Sugar and Bioenergy. The Agribusiness segment purchases, stores, transports, processes, and sells agricultural commodities and commodity products, including oilseeds primarily soybeans, rapeseed, canola, and sunflower seeds, as well as grains comprising wheat and corn; and processes oilseeds into vegetable oils and protein meals. This segment offers its products for animal feed manufacturers, livestock producers, wheat and corn millers, and other oilseed processors, as well as third-party edible oil processing and biofuel companies for biofuel production applications. The Refined and Specialty Oils segment sells packaged and bulk oils and fats that comprise cooking oils, shortenings, margarines, mayonnaise, renewable diesel feedstocks, and other products for baked goods companies, snack food producers, confectioners, restaurant chains, foodservice operators, infant nutrition companies, and other food manufacturers, as well as grocery chains, wholesalers, distributors, and other retailers. This segment also refines and fractionates palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, and shea butter, and olive oil; and produces specialty ingredients derived from vegetable oils, such as lecithin. The Milling segment provides wheat flours and bakery mixes; corn milling products that comprise dry-milled corn meals and flours, wet-milled masa and flours, and flaking and brewer’s grits, as well as soy-fortified corn meal, corn-soy blends, and other products; whole grain and fiber ingredients; die-cut pellets; and non-GMO products. The Sugar and Bioenergy segment produces sugar and ethanol; and generates electricity from burning sugarcane bagasse. Bunge Global SA was founded in 1818 and is headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri.

About Hershey

The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; protein bars; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, bars, snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and pretzels. The company provides its products primarily under the Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kisses, Jolly Rancher, Almond Joy, Brookside, barkTHINS, Cadbury, Good & Plenty, Heath, Kit Kat, Payday, Rolo, Twizzlers, Whoppers, York, Ice Breakers, Breath Savers, Bubble Yum, Lily’s, SkinnyPop, Pirates Booty, Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels, and ONE Bar brands, as well as under the Pelon Pelo Rico, IO-IO, and Sofit brands. It markets and sells its products to wholesale distributors, chain grocery stores, mass merchandisers, chain drug stores, vending companies, wholesale clubs, convenience stores, dollar stores, concessionaires, and department stores. The company exports its products in approximately 80 countries worldwide. The Hershey Company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania.