Medifast (NYSE:MED) versus Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Financial Analysis

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

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medifast	$385.79 million	0.31	-$18.67 million	($1.71)	-6.30
Ingredion	$7.22 billion	1.00	$729.00 million	$11.16	10.31

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.5% of Medifast shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.3% of Ingredion shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Medifast shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Ingredion shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Medifast has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ingredion has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Medifast and Ingredion, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medifast	1	1	0	0	1.50
Ingredion	0	7	1	0	2.13

Medifast presently has a consensus price target of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.32%. Ingredion has a consensus price target of $125.83, suggesting a potential upside of 9.36%. Given Medifast’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Medifast is more favorable than Ingredion.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medifast	-4.84%	-4.27%	-3.37%
Ingredion	10.10%	17.32%	9.37%

Summary

Ingredion beats Medifast on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Medifast

Medifast, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of weight loss, weight management, and healthy living products in the United States and the Asia-Pacific. It offers bars, puffs, cereal, crunchers, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serve, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes, and soups under the OPTAVIA, OPTAVIA ACTIVE, and Optimal Health brand names. The company markets its products through point-of-sale transactions, as well as through ecommerce platform. Medifast, Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.

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.