Head-To-Head Contrast: Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) & Seneca Foods (NASDAQ:SENEA)

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) and Seneca Foods (NASDAQ:SENEA) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends and risk.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vital Farms	7.84%	18.40%	13.65%
Seneca Foods	2.76%	10.07%	4.96%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Vital Farms and Seneca Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vital Farms	0	0	11	0	3.00
Seneca Foods	0	0	0	0	0.00

Vital Farms currently has a consensus price target of $49.80, suggesting a potential upside of 2.55%. Given Vital Farms’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Vital Farms is more favorable than Seneca Foods.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vital Farms and Seneca Foods”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vital Farms	$606.31 million	3.58	$53.39 million	$1.12	43.36
Seneca Foods	$1.57 billion	0.48	$41.22 million	$6.23	17.57

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.6% of Vital Farms shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.5% of Seneca Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.3% of Vital Farms shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.4% of Seneca Foods shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Vital Farms has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seneca Foods has a beta of 0.31, meaning that its stock price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Vital Farms beats Seneca Foods on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Seneca Foods

Seneca Foods Corporation provides packaged fruits and vegetables in the United States and internationally. The company offers canned, frozen, and jarred produce; jarred fruit; and snack chips and other food products under the private label, as well as under various national and regional brands that the company owns or licenses, including Seneca, Libby’s, Aunt Nellie’s, Cherryman, Green Valley, and READ. In addition, it packs canned and frozen vegetables under contract packing agreements. Further, the company engages in the sale of cans, ends, and seeds, as well as trucking and aircraft operations. It provides its products to grocery outlets, including supermarkets, mass merchandisers, limited assortment stores, club stores, and dollar stores; specialty retailers; and food service distributors, restaurant chains, industrial markets, other food packagers, and export customers in approximately 55 countries, as well as federal, state, and local governments for school and other feeding programs. Seneca Foods Corporation was incorporated in 1949 and is headquartered in Fairport, New York.