Financial Contrast: Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) & George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF)

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) and George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Ingredion has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, George Weston has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Ingredion pays an annual dividend of $3.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. George Weston pays an annual dividend of $0.87 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Ingredion pays out 29.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. George Weston pays out 43.1% 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. Ingredion has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Ingredion is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

85.3% of Ingredion shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of George Weston shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Ingredion shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 53.6% of George Weston shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Ingredion and George Weston, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ingredion	0	7	2	0	2.22
George Weston	0	2	4	0	2.67

Ingredion currently has a consensus price target of $124.71, indicating a potential upside of 16.59%. Given Ingredion’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Ingredion is more favorable than George Weston.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ingredion and George Weston”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ingredion	$7.22 billion	0.93	$729.00 million	$11.16	9.59
George Weston	$46.17 billion	0.58	$817.33 million	$2.02	35.10

George Weston has higher revenue and earnings than Ingredion. Ingredion is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than George Weston, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ingredion and George Weston’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ingredion	10.10%	17.32%	9.37%
George Weston	1.71%	13.76%	3.42%

Summary

Ingredion beats George Weston on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ingredion

Ingredion Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells sweeteners, starches, nutrition ingredients, and biomaterial solutions derived from wet milling and processing corn, and other starch-based materials to a range of industries in North America, South America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers starch products for use in a range of processed foods; cornstarch; specialty paper starches for enhanced drainage, fiber retention, oil and grease resistance, improved printability, and biochemical oxygen demand control; starches and specialty starches for textile industry; industrial starches are used in the production of construction materials, textiles, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, as well as in mining and water filtration; and specialty industrial starches for use in biomaterial applications, including biodegradable plastics, fabric softeners and detergents, hair and skin care applications, dusting powders for surgical gloves, and in the production of glass fiber and insulation. It also provides sweetener products comprising glucose syrups, high maltose syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, polyols, maltodextrin, glucose syrup solids, and non-genetically modified organism syrups for applications in food and beverage products, such as baked goods, snack foods, canned fruits, condiments, candy and other sweets, dairy products, ice cream, jams and jellies, prepared mixes, table syrups, and beverages. In addition, the company sells refined corn oil, corn gluten feed, and corn gluten meal; and other products, including fruit and vegetable products, such as concentrates, purees, and essences, as well as pulse proteins and hydrocolloids systems and blends. The company was formerly known as Corn Products International, Inc. and changed its name to Ingredion Incorporated in June 2012. Ingredion Incorporated was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Westchester, Illinois.

About George Weston

George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services. This segment also offers credit card and other banking services, insurance brokerage services, guaranteed investment certificates, and wireless mobile products and services. The Choice Properties segment owns, operates, manages, and develops retail commercial and residential properties, leased to necessity-based tenants, industrial, and mixed-use and residential assets. It markets its products under the Shoppers Drug Mart, Joe Fresh, President’s Choice Bank, no name, Farmer’s Market, T&T, Life Brand, and PC Optimum brands. The company was founded in 1882 and is based in Toronto, Canada. George Weston Limited operates as a subsidiary of Wittington Investments, Limited.