Head to Head Survey: Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) vs. Clorox (NYSE:CLX)

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) and Clorox (NYSE:CLX) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Grocery Outlet and Clorox’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grocery Outlet	-4.80%	5.93%	2.07%
Clorox	11.17%	383.01%	14.57%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Grocery Outlet and Clorox, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grocery Outlet	2	11	0	0	1.85
Clorox	3	12	1	0	1.88

Grocery Outlet presently has a consensus target price of $10.68, suggesting a potential upside of 79.83%. Clorox has a consensus target price of $118.73, suggesting a potential upside of 9.94%. Given Grocery Outlet’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Grocery Outlet is more favorable than Clorox.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.9% of Grocery Outlet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.5% of Clorox shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of Grocery Outlet shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Clorox shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Grocery Outlet and Clorox”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grocery Outlet	$4.69 billion	0.12	-$224.91 million	($2.29)	-2.59
Clorox	$7.10 billion	1.84	$810.00 million	$6.12	17.65

Clorox has higher revenue and earnings than Grocery Outlet. Grocery Outlet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Clorox, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Grocery Outlet has a beta of 0.5, indicating that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clorox has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Clorox beats Grocery Outlet on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Grocery Outlet

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. operates as a retailer of consumables and fresh products sold through independently operated stores in the United States. Its stores offer products in various categories, such as dairy and deli, produce, floral, fresh meat, seafood products, grocery, general merchandise, health and beauty care, frozen food, beer and wine, and ethnic products. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California.

About Clorox

The Clorox Company manufactures and markets consumer and professional products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Health and Wellness, Household, Lifestyle, and International. The Health and Wellness segment offers cleaning products, such as laundry additives and home care products primarily under the Clorox, Clorox2, Scentiva, Pine-Sol, Liquid-Plumr, Tilex, and Formula 409 brands; professional cleaning and disinfecting products under the CloroxPro and Clorox Healthcare brands; professional food service products under the Hidden Valley brand; and vitamins, minerals and supplement products under the RenewLife, Natural Vitality, NeoCell, and Rainbow Light brands in the United States. The Household segment provides cat litter products under the Fresh Step and Scoop Away brands; bags and wraps under the Glad brand; and grilling products under the Kingsford brand in the United States. The Lifestyle segment offers dressings, dips, seasonings, and sauces primarily under the Hidden Valley brand; natural personal care products under the Burt's Bees brand; and water-filtration products under the Brita brand in the United States. The International segment provides laundry additives; home care products; water-filtration systems; digestive health products; grilling products; cat litter products; food products; bags and wraps; natural personal care products; and professional cleaning and disinfecting products internationally primarily under the Clorox, Ayudin, Clorinda, Poett, Pine-Sol, Glad, Brita, RenewLife, Ever Clean and Burt's Bees brands. It sells its products primarily through mass retailers; grocery outlets; warehouse clubs; dollar stores; home hardware centers; drug, pet, and military stores; third-party and owned e-commerce channels; and distributors, as well as a direct sales force The Clorox Company was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in Oakland, California.