BAB (OTCMKTS:BABB – Get Free Report) and United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI – Get Free Report) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and risk.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for BAB and United Natural Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| BAB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| United Natural Foods | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
United Natural Foods has a consensus price target of $26.43, indicating a potential upside of 11.04%. Given United Natural Foods’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe United Natural Foods is more favorable than BAB.
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| BAB | $3.55 million | 1.73 | $520,000.00 | $0.07 | 12.11 |
| United Natural Foods | $30.98 billion | 0.05 | -$112.00 million | ($1.15) | -20.70 |
BAB has higher earnings, but lower revenue than United Natural Foods. United Natural Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BAB, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
BAB has a beta of 0.21, meaning that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Natural Foods has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares BAB and United Natural Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| BAB | 16.24% | 16.74% | 11.54% |
| United Natural Foods | -0.21% | 3.13% | 0.66% |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
87.6% of United Natural Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.7% of BAB shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of United Natural Foods shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
BAB beats United Natural Foods on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About BAB
BAB, Inc. franchises and licenses bagel and muffin retail units under the Big Apple Bagels (BAB), My Favorite Muffin (MFM), and SweetDuet (SD) trade names in the United States. It's BAB franchised brand includes daily baked bagels, flavored cream cheeses, premium coffees, gourmet bagel sandwiches, and other related products; and MFM brand comprises various freshly baked muffins and coffees, as well as units operating as My Favorite Muffin Your All Day Bakery Café features specialty bagel sandwiches and related products. The company's SD brand includes frozen yogurt products. BAB, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is based in Deerfield, Illinois.
About United Natural Foods
United Natural Foods, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes natural, organic, specialty, produce, and conventional grocery and non-food products in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The company offers grocery and general merchandise, produce, perishables and frozen foods, wellness and personal care items, and bulk and foodservice products. It also provides nuts, dried fruit, seeds, trail mixes, granola, natural and organic snack items, and confections under the Woodstock Farms Manufacturing name; organic, non-GMO project verified, and specialty food and non-food items under the Blue Marble brand name; pet food under the WILD HARVEST brand name; and various products under the ESSENTIAL EVERYDAY, SHOPPERS VALUE, Field Day, EQUALINE, CULINARY CIRCLE, and STONE RIDGE CREAMERY brand names. In addition, the company provides home, health and beauty care, and pharmacy products, as well as private label products through a network of Cub Foods and Shoppers retail grocery stores; and retail store support, pricing strategy, shelf and planogram management, advertising, couponing, ecommerce, consumer convenience, store design, equipment sourcing, electronic payments processing, network and data hosting, point-of-sale hardware and software, automation tools, sustainability, and administrative back-office solution services. Further, it offers consumer and trade marketing programs, and programs to support suppliers in understanding its markets. The company serves chains, independent retailers, and supernatural chains, as well as foodservice, ecommerce, conventional military business, and other sales customers. United Natural Foods, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.
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