Analyzing Marine Harvest ASA (OTCMKTS:MHGVY) & Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Marine Harvest ASA and Freshpet, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marine Harvest ASA	0	3	0	2	2.80
Freshpet	0	7	9	0	2.56

Freshpet has a consensus target price of $79.62, indicating a potential upside of 11.68%. Given Freshpet’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Freshpet is more favorable than Marine Harvest ASA.

Risk & Volatility

Marine Harvest ASA has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Freshpet has a beta of 1.75, indicating that its stock price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marine Harvest ASA	11.19%	11.74%	5.29%
Freshpet	17.28%	5.97%	4.07%

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marine Harvest ASA	$6.47 billion	1.91	$708.93 million	$1.42	16.54
Freshpet	$1.18 billion	2.98	$139.14 million	$3.80	18.76

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

Summary

Freshpet beats Marine Harvest ASA on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Freshpet

Freshpet, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and markets natural fresh meals and treats for dogs and cats in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It sells dog food, cat food, and dog treats under the Freshpet brand name; and Dognation and Dog Joy labels through various classes of retail, including grocery, mass, club, pet specialty, and natural, as well as online. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey.