United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) and McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) Head to Head Contrast

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) and United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for McCormick & Company, Incorporated and United Natural Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	0	7	4	0	2.36
United Natural Foods	1	8	3	1	2.31

McCormick & Company, Incorporated presently has a consensus target price of $78.22, indicating a potential upside of 17.81%. United Natural Foods has a consensus target price of $36.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.80%. Given McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe McCormick & Company, Incorporated is more favorable than United Natural Foods.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares McCormick & Company, Incorporated and United Natural Foods”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	$6.79 billion	2.63	$788.50 million	$2.89	22.97
United Natural Foods	$31.78 billion	0.07	-$118.00 million	($1.95)	-17.62

McCormick & Company, Incorporated has higher earnings, but lower revenue than United Natural Foods. United Natural Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than McCormick & Company, Incorporated, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Natural Foods has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

79.7% of McCormick & Company, Incorporated shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.6% of United Natural Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 23.8% of McCormick & Company, Incorporated shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of United Natural Foods shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares McCormick & Company, Incorporated and United Natural Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	11.46%	14.30%	6.05%
United Natural Foods	-0.37%	2.74%	0.57%

Summary

McCormick & Company, Incorporated beats United Natural Foods on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About McCormick & Company, Incorporated

McCormick & Co., Inc. engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to retail outlets, food manufacturers, and foodservice businesses. It operates through the Consumer and Flavor Solutions segments. The Consumer segment sells spices, seasonings, condiments, and sauces. The Flavor Solutions segment includes seasoning blends, spices and herbs, condiments, coating systems, and compound flavors. The company was founded by Willoughby M. McCormick in 1889 and is headquartered in Baltimore, MD.

About United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes natural, organic, specialty, produce, and conventional grocery and non-food products in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The company offers grocery and general merchandise, produce, perishables and frozen foods, wellness and personal care items, and bulk and foodservice products. It also provides nuts, dried fruit, seeds, trail mixes, granola, natural and organic snack items, and confections under the Woodstock Farms Manufacturing name; organic, non-GMO project verified, and specialty food and non-food items under the Blue Marble brand name; pet food under the WILD HARVEST brand name; and various products under the ESSENTIAL EVERYDAY, SHOPPERS VALUE, Field Day, EQUALINE, CULINARY CIRCLE, and STONE RIDGE CREAMERY brand names. In addition, the company provides home, health and beauty care, and pharmacy products, as well as private label products through a network of Cub Foods and Shoppers retail grocery stores; and retail store support, pricing strategy, shelf and planogram management, advertising, couponing, ecommerce, consumer convenience, store design, equipment sourcing, electronic payments processing, network and data hosting, point-of-sale hardware and software, automation tools, sustainability, and administrative back-office solution services. Further, it offers consumer and trade marketing programs, and programs to support suppliers in understanding its markets. The company serves chains, independent retailers, and supernatural chains, as well as foodservice, ecommerce, conventional military business, and other sales customers. United Natural Foods, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.