Critical Contrast: B&G Foods (BGS) vs. Its Rivals

B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS) is one of 328 publicly-traded companies in the “Food Products” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare B&G Foods to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and profitability.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares B&G Foods and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
B&G Foods	$1.83 billion	-$43.26 million	-2.77
B&G Foods Competitors	$6.89 billion	$705.45 million	-2,413.15

B&G Foods’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than B&G Foods. B&G Foods is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for B&G Foods and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
B&G Foods	2	1	0	0	1.33
B&G Foods Competitors	2447	8294	8374	403	2.34

B&G Foods currently has a consensus price target of $3.62, indicating a potential upside of 47.06%. As a group, “Food Products” companies have a potential upside of 18.47%. Given B&G Foods’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe B&G Foods is more favorable than its peers.

Dividends

B&G Foods pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.4%. B&G Foods pays out -42.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Food Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 12.3% and pay out 29.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. B&G Foods is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

B&G Foods has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, B&G Foods’ peers have a beta of -3.83, suggesting that their average stock price is 483% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares B&G Foods and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
B&G Foods	-4.00%	10.74%	1.55%
B&G Foods Competitors	-13.38%	-127.80%	-2.58%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.2% of B&G Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of B&G Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 18.8% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

B&G Foods beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About B&G Foods

B&G Foods, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of shelf-stable frozen food, and household products in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. It operates through the following segments: Specialty, Meals, Frozen & Vegetables, and Spices & Flavor Solutions. The Specialty segment includes, among others, the Crisco, Clabber Girl, Bear Creek, Polaner, Underwood, B&G, Grandma’s, New York Style, Don Pepino, Sclafani, B&M, Baker’s Joy, Regina, TrueNorth, Static Guard, SugarTwin and Brer Rabbit brands. The Meals segment focuses on the Ortega, Maple Grove Farms, Cream of Wheat, Las Palmas, Victoria, Mama Mary’s, Spring Tree, McCann’s, Carey’s and Vermont Maid brands. The Frozen & Vegetables segment consists of Green Giant and Le Sueur brands. The Spices & Flavor Solutions segment offers Dash, Spice Islands, Weber, Ac’cent, Tone’s, Trappey’s, Durkee and Wright’s brands. Its products include frozen and canned vegetables, hot cereals, fruit spreads, canned meats and beans, bagel chips, spices, seasonings, hot sauces, and wine vinegar. Its brands include Back to Nature, Bear Creek, Cream of Wheat, Green Giant, Mrs. Dash, and Ortega. The company was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in Parsippany, NJ.