Hershey (NYSE:HSY) versus Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) Critical Survey

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Hershey and Simply Good Foods”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hershey	$11.20 billion	3.13	$2.22 billion	$8.11	21.33
Simply Good Foods	$1.33 billion	2.43	$139.31 million	$1.44	22.26

Hershey has higher revenue and earnings than Simply Good Foods. Hershey is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Simply Good Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

58.0% of Hershey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.5% of Simply Good Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Hershey shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.4% of Simply Good Foods shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Hershey has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Simply Good Foods has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Hershey and Simply Good Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hershey	15.32%	38.70%	13.12%
Simply Good Foods	10.31%	10.39%	7.68%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Hershey and Simply Good Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hershey	5	15	0	0	1.75
Simply Good Foods	0	3	4	0	2.57

Hershey currently has a consensus price target of $158.84, suggesting a potential downside of 8.18%. Simply Good Foods has a consensus price target of $39.71, suggesting a potential upside of 23.87%. Given Simply Good Foods’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Simply Good Foods is more favorable than Hershey.

About Hershey

The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; protein bars; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, bars, snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and pretzels. The company provides its products primarily under the Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kisses, Jolly Rancher, Almond Joy, Brookside, barkTHINS, Cadbury, Good & Plenty, Heath, Kit Kat, Payday, Rolo, Twizzlers, Whoppers, York, Ice Breakers, Breath Savers, Bubble Yum, Lily’s, SkinnyPop, Pirates Booty, Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels, and ONE Bar brands, as well as under the Pelon Pelo Rico, IO-IO, and Sofit brands. It markets and sells its products to wholesale distributors, chain grocery stores, mass merchandisers, chain drug stores, vending companies, wholesale clubs, convenience stores, dollar stores, concessionaires, and department stores. The company exports its products in approximately 80 countries worldwide. The Hershey Company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

About Simply Good Foods

The Simply Good Foods Company operates as a consumer-packaged food and beverage company in North America and internationally. The company develops, markets, and sells snacks and meal replacements. It offers protein bars, ready-to-drink shakes, sweet and salty snacks, cookies, protein chips, and recipes under the Atkins and Quest brand names. The company also provides confectionery products, such as full-size and mini peanut butter cups, and fudgey brownie and gooey caramel candy bites, chocolatey coated peanut candies, and coconutty caramel candy bars under Atkins Endulge brand name.It distributes its products to various retail channels, such as mass merchandise, grocery and drug channels, club stores, convenience stores, gas stations, and other channels. The company also sells its products through e-commerce channels, including questnutrition.com, atkins.com, amazon.com and others. The Simply Good Foods Company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.