Comparing Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) and Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL)

Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) and Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Adecoagro and Vital Farms’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adecoagro	3.03%	-0.38%	-0.14%
Vital Farms	0.02%	3.46%	2.25%

Volatility & Risk

Adecoagro has a beta of -0.02, indicating that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vital Farms has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Adecoagro and Vital Farms”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adecoagro	$1.65 billion	0.89	-$8.35 million	$0.33	31.13
Vital Farms	$759.44 million	0.53	$66.28 million	($0.04)	-233.25

Vital Farms has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Adecoagro. Vital Farms is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Adecoagro, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

45.3% of Adecoagro shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.6% of Vital Farms shares are held by institutional investors. 6.7% of Adecoagro shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Vital Farms shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Adecoagro and Vital Farms, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adecoagro	2	5	1	0	1.88
Vital Farms	1	8	5	0	2.29

Adecoagro presently has a consensus target price of $11.62, suggesting a potential upside of 13.07%. Vital Farms has a consensus target price of $17.18, suggesting a potential upside of 84.16%. Given Vital Farms’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vital Farms is more favorable than Adecoagro.

Summary

Vital Farms beats Adecoagro on 8 of the 14 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 Vital Farms

Vital Farms, Inc., a food company, provides pasture-raised products in the United States. It offers shell eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs, and liquid whole eggs. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.