Dole (DOLE) versus Its Peers Head-To-Head Survey

Dole (NYSE:DOLE) is one of 38 publicly-traded companies in the “AGRI OPERATIONS” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Dole to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, valuation and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

41.7% of shares of all “AGRI OPERATIONS” companies are owned by institutional investors. 41.8% of Dole shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.6% of shares of all “AGRI OPERATIONS” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Dole and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dole	$8.97 billion	$125.51 million	95.67
Dole Competitors	$34.14 billion	$103.03 million	3.32

Dole’s competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Dole. Dole is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Dole and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dole	0	2	0	0	2.00
Dole Competitors	417	793	1016	38	2.30

Dole presently has a consensus price target of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.50%. As a group, “AGRI OPERATIONS” companies have a potential upside of 41.65%. Given Dole’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Dole has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Dole and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dole	0.28%	8.17%	2.62%
Dole Competitors	-293.40%	-82.89%	-18.09%

Dividends

Dole pays an annual dividend of $0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Dole pays out 226.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “AGRI OPERATIONS” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.4% and pay out -99.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Dole has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Dole lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Volatility and Risk

Dole has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dole’s competitors have a beta of 0.81, meaning that their average stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Dole competitors beat Dole on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Dole

Dole Food Company, Inc. (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods. The fresh fruit segment contains operating divisions that produce and market fresh fruit to wholesale, retail and institutional customers worldwide. The fresh vegetables segment produces and markets fresh-packed and value-added vegetables and salads to wholesale, retail and institutional customers, primarily in North America and Europe. The packaged foods segment contains several operating divisions that produce and market packaged foods, including fruit, juices, frozen fruit and healthy snack foods. In November 2013, Dole Food Company, Inc announced that an investor group acquired the remaining 60.43% interest in the Company.