Comparing Marine Harvest ASA (OTCMKTS:MHGVY) and Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO)

Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) and Marine Harvest ASA (OTCMKTS:MHGVY) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

45.3% of Adecoagro shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.7% of Adecoagro shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Adecoagro has a beta of -0.02, meaning that its stock price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marine Harvest ASA has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Adecoagro and Marine Harvest ASA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adecoagro	3.03%	-0.38%	-0.14%
Marine Harvest ASA	11.19%	11.74%	5.29%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Adecoagro and Marine Harvest ASA”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adecoagro	$1.65 billion	0.87	-$8.35 million	$0.33	30.45
Marine Harvest ASA	$6.47 billion	1.77	$708.93 million	$1.42	15.27

Marine Harvest ASA has higher revenue and earnings than Adecoagro. Marine Harvest ASA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Adecoagro, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Adecoagro and Marine Harvest ASA, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adecoagro	2	5	1	0	1.88
Marine Harvest ASA	0	3	0	2	2.80

Adecoagro currently has a consensus price target of $11.62, suggesting a potential upside of 15.59%. Given Adecoagro’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Adecoagro is more favorable than Marine Harvest ASA.

Dividends

Adecoagro pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Marine Harvest ASA pays an annual dividend of $0.74 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Adecoagro pays out 72.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Marine Harvest ASA pays out 52.1% 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. Adecoagro has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Marine Harvest ASA is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Marine Harvest ASA beats Adecoagro on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Adecoagro

Adecoagro S.A. operates as an agro-industrial company in South America. The company mainly operates through three segments: Farming; Sugar, Ethanol and Energy; and Land Transformation. It engages in farming crops, rice and other agricultural products, dairy operations, and land transformation activities, as well as sugar, ethanol, and energy production activities. The company is involved in the planting, harvesting, and sale of grains, oilseeds, and fibers, including wheat, corn, soybeans, peanuts, cotton, sunflowers, and others; provision of grain warehousing/conditioning, handling, and drying services to third parties; and purchase and sale of crops produced by third parties. It also plants, harvests, processes, and markets rice; and produces and sells raw milk, UHT, cheese, and powder milk. In addition, the company engages in the cultivating and transforming of sugarcane into ethanol, sugar, and electricity. Further, it is involved in the identification and acquisition of underdeveloped and undermanaged farmland, and the realization of value through the strategic disposition of assets. Adecoagro S.A. was founded in 2002 and is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

About Marine Harvest ASA

Mowi ASA, a seafood company, farms, produces, and supplies Atlantic salmon products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Feed, Farming, and Sales and Marketing. The company is involved in the salmon feed production, salmon farming and primary processing, and seafood secondary processing activities. It offers whole fish, plain and marinated fillets and steaks, hot- and cold-smoked salmon, burgers and tartars, patties, gravad, sushi, and breaded products under the Ducktrap, MOWI, and Supreme Salmon brands. The company was formerly known as Marine Harvest ASA and changed its name to Mowi ASA in December 2018. Mowi ASA was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Bergen, Norway.