Contrasting The Hain Celestial Group (NASDAQ:HAIN) & Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT)

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) and The Hain Celestial Group (NASDAQ:HAIN) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Freshpet and The Hain Celestial Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freshpet	1	6	10	1	2.61
The Hain Celestial Group	2	6	0	0	1.75

Freshpet presently has a consensus target price of $74.25, suggesting a potential upside of 29.04%. The Hain Celestial Group has a consensus target price of $1.06, suggesting a potential upside of 100.34%. Given The Hain Celestial Group’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe The Hain Celestial Group is more favorable than Freshpet.

Profitability

This table compares Freshpet and The Hain Celestial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freshpet	17.63%	6.22%	4.19%
The Hain Celestial Group	-35.47%	-3.52%	-0.89%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Freshpet and The Hain Celestial Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Freshpet	$1.10 billion	2.57	$139.14 million	$3.74	15.39
The Hain Celestial Group	$1.56 billion	0.03	-$530.84 million	($5.74)	-0.09

Freshpet has higher earnings, but lower revenue than The Hain Celestial Group. The Hain Celestial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Freshpet, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.0% of The Hain Celestial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.3% of Freshpet shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of The Hain Celestial Group shares are owned by company 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.

Risk & Volatility

Freshpet has a beta of 1.6, meaning that its share price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Hain Celestial Group has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Freshpet beats The Hain Celestial Group on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Freshpet

Freshpet, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and markets natural fresh meals and treats for dogs and cats in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It sells dog food, cat food, and dog treats under the Freshpet brand name; and Dognation and Dog Joy labels through various classes of retail, including grocery, mass, club, pet specialty, and natural, as well as online. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey.

About The Hain Celestial Group

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. manufactures, markets, and sells organic and natural products in United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and internationally. It operates through two segments: North America and International. The company offers infant formula; infant, toddler, and kids' food; plant-based beverages and frozen desserts, such as soy, rice, oat, and spelt; and condiments. It also provides cooking and culinary oils; cereal bars; fresh and aseptic soups; yogurts; and nut butters. In addition, the company offers hot-eating desserts, refrigerated and frozen plant-based meat-alternative products, jams, fruit spreads, jellies, honey, natural sweeteners, syrups, dessert sauces, and marmalade products, as well as other food products. Further, it provides snack products comprising potato, root vegetable and other exotic vegetable chips, straws, tortilla chips; and personal care products that include hand, skin, hair, and oral care products, as well as deodorants, baby food, sunscreens, and other products under the Alba Botanica, Avalon Organics, Earth's Best, JASON, Live Clean, and Queen Helene brands name. Additionally, the company offers herbal, green, black, wellness, rooibos, and chai tea under the Celestial Seasonings brand. It sells pantry products under the Spectrum, Spectrum Essentials, MaraNatha, Imagine broths, Hain Pure Foods, Health Valley, and Hollywood brands. It sells its products through specialty and natural food distributors, supermarkets, natural food stores, mass-market and e-commerce retailers, food service channels and clubs, and drug and convenience stores. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey.