Comparing Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) & Niagen Bioscience (NASDAQ:NAGE)

Niagen Bioscience (NASDAQ:NAGE) and Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

Niagen Bioscience has a beta of 2.09, meaning that its stock price is 109% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Estee Lauder Companies has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Niagen Bioscience and Estee Lauder Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Niagen Bioscience	12.39%	17.95%	13.17%
Estee Lauder Companies	1.21%	23.52%	4.72%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

15.4% of Niagen Bioscience shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.1% of Estee Lauder Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.0% of Niagen Bioscience shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.1% of Estee Lauder Companies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Niagen Bioscience and Estee Lauder Companies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Niagen Bioscience	0	1	3	1	3.00
Estee Lauder Companies	2	12	8	2	2.42

Niagen Bioscience currently has a consensus price target of $10.33, suggesting a potential upside of 238.80%. Estee Lauder Companies has a consensus price target of $104.67, suggesting a potential upside of 10.73%. Given Niagen Bioscience’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Niagen Bioscience is more favorable than Estee Lauder Companies.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Niagen Bioscience and Estee Lauder Companies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Niagen Bioscience	$129.42 million	1.88	$17.38 million	$0.18	16.94
Estee Lauder Companies	$15.05 billion	2.27	$182.00 million	$0.49	192.90

Estee Lauder Companies has higher revenue and earnings than Niagen Bioscience. Niagen Bioscience is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Estee Lauder Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Estee Lauder Companies beats Niagen Bioscience on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Niagen Bioscience

Niagen Bioscience, Inc. is a global bioscience company, which engages in acquiring, developing, and commercializing proprietary-based ingredient technologies. It is pioneering research on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). The company’s patent portfolio includes Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) and other NAD+ precursors, which are commercialized as the flagship ingredient Niagen. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Products, Ingredients, and Analytical Reference Standards and Services. The Consumer Products segment provides finished dietary supplement products that contain the firm’s proprietary ingredients directly to consumers as well as to distributors. The Ingredients segment supplies ingredients as raw materials to the manufacturers of consumer products. The Analytical Reference Standards and Services segment includes supply of phytochemical reference standards and other research and development services. The company was founded by Mark S. Germain and Frank L. Jaksch, Jr. in 1999 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.

About Estee Lauder Companies

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. manufactures, markets, and sells skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. It offers skin care products, including moisturizers, serums, cleansers, toners, body care, exfoliators, acne care and oil correctors, facial masks, and sun care products; and makeup products, such as lipsticks, lip glosses, mascaras, foundations, eyeshadows, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools. The company also provides fragrance products in various forms comprising eau de parfum sprays and colognes, as well as lotions, powders, creams, candles, and soaps; and hair care products, including shampoos, conditioners, styling products, treatment, finishing sprays, and hair color products, as well as sells ancillary products and services. It offers its products under the Estée Lauder, Clinique, Origins, M·A·C, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, La Mer, Aveda, Jo Malone London, TOM FORD, Too Faced, Dr.Jart+, and The Ordinary brands. The company sells its products through department stores, specialty-multi retailers, upscale perfumeries and pharmacies, and salons and spas; freestanding stores; its own and authorized retailer websites; third-party online malls; stores in airports; and duty-free locations. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in New York, New York.