Reviewing Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) and Unilever (NYSE:UL)

Unilever (NYSE:UL) and Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Unilever and Albertsons Companies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unilever	2	2	3	2	2.56
Albertsons Companies	1	4	11	0	2.63

Unilever presently has a consensus target price of $72.50, suggesting a potential upside of 18.89%. Albertsons Companies has a consensus target price of $24.0625, suggesting a potential upside of 25.39%. Given Albertsons Companies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Albertsons Companies is more favorable than Unilever.

Profitability

This table compares Unilever and Albertsons Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unilever	N/A	N/A	N/A
Albertsons Companies	1.18%	37.92%	4.63%

Dividends

Unilever pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Albertsons Companies pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Unilever pays out 59.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Albertsons Companies pays out 36.6% 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. Albertsons Companies has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

9.7% of Unilever shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.4% of Albertsons Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Unilever shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Albertsons Companies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Unilever has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albertsons Companies has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Unilever and Albertsons Companies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unilever	$65.76 billion	2.28	$6.22 billion	$3.49	17.47
Albertsons Companies	$80.39 billion	0.13	$958.60 million	$1.64	11.70

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

Summary

Albertsons Companies beats Unilever on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Unilever

Unilever PLC operates as a fast-moving consumer goods company in the Asia Pacific, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through five segments: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream. The Beauty & Wellbeing segment engages in the sale of hair care products, such as shampoo, conditioner, and styling; skin care products including face, hand, and body moisturizer; and prestige beauty and health & wellbeing products consist of the vitamins, minerals, and supplements. The Personal Care segment offers skin cleansing products comprising soap and shower; deodorants; and oral care products, such as toothpaste, toothbrush, and mouthwash products. The Home Care segment is involved in the sale of fabric care products, including washing powders and liquids, and rinse conditioners; and fabric enhancers, and home and hygiene products. The Nutrition segment provides dressings products, such as mayonnaise and ketchup; sells scratch cooking aids consist of soups, bouillons, and seasonings; plant-based meat; beverages; and functional nutrition products, including Horlicks and Boost, as well as tea products. The Ice Cream segment offers ice cream products including in-home and out-of-home ice creams. The company provides its products under the AXE, Ben & Jerry's, Cif, Clear, Closeup, Comfort, Cornetto, Dermalogica, Domestos, Dove, Dove Men+Care, Hellmann's, Horlicks, Knorr, LUX, Lifebuoy, Liquid I.V., Magnum, Nutrafol, OMO, Paula's Choice, Pepsodent, Pond's, Rexona, Rexona, Sunlight, Sunsilk, Surf, TRESemmé, Vaseline, Wall's, Breyers, and Yasso brand names. Unilever PLC was founded in 1860 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About Albertsons Companies

Albertsons Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of food and drug stores in the United States. The company’s food and drug retail stores offer grocery products, general merchandise, health and beauty care products, pharmacy, fuel, and other items and services. It also manufactures and processes food products for sale in stores. It operates stores under various banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Carrs, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw’s, Star Market, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Haggen, Kings Food Markets, and Balducci’s Food Lovers Market; and pharmacies, in-store branded coffee shops, adjacent fuel centers, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities, as well as various digital platforms. Albertsons Companies, Inc. was founded in 1860 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Albertsons Companies, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Albertsons Investor Holdings LLC.