Head-To-Head Contrast: Stevia (OTCMKTS:STEV) versus Bunge Global (NYSE:BG)

Stevia (OTCMKTS:STEV) and Bunge Global (NYSE:BG) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Stevia and Bunge Global’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stevia	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bunge Global	3.22%	17.49%	7.86%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Stevia and Bunge Global’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stevia	N/A	N/A	N/A	($0.05)	-0.06
Bunge Global	$59.54 billion	0.25	$2.24 billion	$12.42	8.33

Bunge Global has higher revenue and earnings than Stevia. Stevia is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bunge Global, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

13.9% of Stevia shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.2% of Bunge Global shares are held by institutional investors. 34.0% of Stevia shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Bunge Global shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Stevia and Bunge Global, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stevia	0	0	0	0	N/A
Bunge Global	0	3	7	0	2.70

Bunge Global has a consensus target price of $121.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.93%. Given Bunge Global’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Bunge Global is more favorable than Stevia.

Summary

Bunge Global beats Stevia on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Stevia

Stevia Corp., a farm management and healthcare company, focuses on developing plant breeding and agricultural methodologies. The company invests in the research and development, and IP acquisition, as well as manages propagation, nursery, and plantations. It also provides services to contract growers and other industry growers. The company was formerly known as Interpro Management Corp. and changed its name to Stevia Corp. in March 2011. Stevia Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About Bunge Global

Bunge Global SA operates as an agribusiness and food company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Agribusiness, Refined and Specialty Oils, Milling, and Sugar and Bioenergy. The Agribusiness segment purchases, stores, transports, processes, and sells agricultural commodities and commodity products, including oilseeds primarily soybeans, rapeseed, canola, and sunflower seeds, as well as grains comprising wheat and corn; and processes oilseeds into vegetable oils and protein meals. This segment offers its products for animal feed manufacturers, livestock producers, wheat and corn millers, and other oilseed processors, as well as third-party edible oil processing and biofuel companies for biofuel production applications. The Refined and Specialty Oils segment sells packaged and bulk oils and fats that comprise cooking oils, shortenings, margarines, mayonnaise, renewable diesel feedstocks, and other products for baked goods companies, snack food producers, confectioners, restaurant chains, foodservice operators, infant nutrition companies, and other food manufacturers, as well as grocery chains, wholesalers, distributors, and other retailers. This segment also refines and fractionates palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, and shea butter, and olive oil; and produces specialty ingredients derived from vegetable oils, such as lecithin. The Milling segment provides wheat flours and bakery mixes; corn milling products that comprise dry-milled corn meals and flours, wet-milled masa and flours, and flaking and brewer's grits, as well as soy-fortified corn meal, corn-soy blends, and other products; whole grain and fiber ingredients; die-cut pellets; and non-GMO products. The Sugar and Bioenergy segment produces sugar and ethanol; and generates electricity from burning sugarcane bagasse. Bunge Global SA was founded in 1818 and is headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri.