Analyzing S&W Seed (NASDAQ:SANW) and Local Bounti (NYSE:LOCL)

Local Bounti (NYSE:LOCL – Get Rating) and S&W Seed (NASDAQ:SANW – Get Rating) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Local Bounti and S&W Seed, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Local Bounti	0	1	3	0	2.75
S&W Seed	0	0	3	0	3.00

Local Bounti presently has a consensus target price of $9.13, suggesting a potential upside of 81.41%. S&W Seed has a consensus target price of $5.13, suggesting a potential upside of 268.71%. Given S&W Seed’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe S&W Seed is more favorable than Local Bounti.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.7% of Local Bounti shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.7% of S&W Seed shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Local Bounti and S&W Seed’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Local Bounti	N/A	-60.77%	-23.06%
S&W Seed	-23.68%	-34.58%	-15.68%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Local Bounti and S&W Seed’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Local Bounti	$640,000.00	679.57	-$56.09 million	N/A	N/A
S&W Seed	$84.05 million	0.64	-$19.17 million	($0.52)	-2.67

S&W Seed has higher revenue and earnings than Local Bounti.

Summary

S&W Seed beats Local Bounti on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

Local Bounti Company Profile (Get Rating)

Local Bounti Corporation grows fresh greens and herbs in the United States. It produces lettuce, herbs, and loose-leaf lettuce. The company sells its products to food retailers and food service distributors. Local Bounti Corporation was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Montana.

S&W Seed Company Profile (Get Rating)

S&W Seed Company, an agricultural company, engages in breeding, growing, processing, and selling alfalfa and sorghum seeds. It also offers sunflower, wheat germplasm, wheat, and pasture seeds. The company sells its seeds to distributors and dealers in 40 countries. S&W Seed Company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Longmont, Colorado.