Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) versus BranchOut Food (NASDAQ:BOF) Critical Contrast

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) and BranchOut Food (NASDAQ:BOF) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Flowers Foods and BranchOut Food’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flowers Foods	2.51%	18.97%	7.59%
BranchOut Food	-79.93%	-175.74%	-99.07%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Flowers Foods and BranchOut Food”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flowers Foods	$5.13 billion	0.94	$123.42 million	$0.59	38.70
BranchOut Food	$5.22 million	1.66	-$3.93 million	($1.40)	-1.45

Flowers Foods has higher revenue and earnings than BranchOut Food. BranchOut Food is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Flowers Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.4% of Flowers Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.6% of BranchOut Food shares are held by institutional investors. 11.4% of Flowers Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 30.5% of BranchOut Food shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Flowers Foods has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BranchOut Food has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Flowers Foods and BranchOut Food, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flowers Foods	1	3	0	0	1.75
BranchOut Food	0	0	0	0	N/A

Flowers Foods currently has a consensus target price of $22.75, indicating a potential downside of 0.37%. Given Flowers Foods’ higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Flowers Foods is more favorable than BranchOut Food.

Summary

Flowers Foods beats BranchOut Food on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc. produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack items, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs. Freshley's, and Tastykake brand names. The company distributes its products through a direct-store-delivery distribution and a warehouse delivery system, as well as operates bakeries. Its customers include national and regional restaurants, institutions and foodservice distributors, and retail in-store bakeries; wholesale distributors; mass merchandisers, supermarkets, vending outlets, and convenience stores; quick-serve chains, food wholesalers, institutions, dollar stores, and vending companies; and public health care, military commissaries, and prisons, and other governmental institutions. The company was formerly known as Flowers Industries and changed its name to Flowers Foods, Inc. in 2001. Flowers Foods, Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia.

About BranchOut Food

BranchOut Food Inc. develops, markets, sells, and distributes plant-based dehydrated fruit and vegetable snacks, and powders in the United States. The company offers dehydrated fruit and vegetable-based snacks, including avocado chips, chewy banana bites, pineapple chips, brussels sprout crisps, and bell pepper crisps; avocado, banana, and blueberry powders; and industrial ingredients, such as bulk avocado powder, dried avocado pieces, and other fruit powders/pieces. It also provides chocolate covered fruit items and private label products for retailers. The company was formerly known as AvoLov, LLC and changed its name to BranchOut Food Inc. in November 2021. BranchOut Food Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Bend, Oregon.