Analyzing Ajinomoto (AJINY) & Its Peers

Ajinomoto (OTCMKTS:AJINY) is one of 69 publicly-traded companies in the “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Ajinomoto to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

54.9% of shares of all “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies are owned by institutional investors. 15.0% of shares of all “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Ajinomoto pays an annual dividend of $0.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Ajinomoto pays out 31.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.0% and pay out 33.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Volatility & Risk

Ajinomoto has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ajinomoto’s peers have a beta of 0.83, suggesting that their average stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Ajinomoto and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ajinomoto	0	1	0	2	3.33
Ajinomoto Competitors	710	3430	3734	154	2.42

As a group, “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies have a potential upside of 19.55%. Given Ajinomoto’s peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ajinomoto has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Ajinomoto and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ajinomoto	6.02%	10.45%	5.06%
Ajinomoto Competitors	-3.60%	-16.97%	1.87%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ajinomoto and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ajinomoto	$10.05 billion	$463.80 million	43.93
Ajinomoto Competitors	$8.07 billion	$399.01 million	23.90

Ajinomoto has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Ajinomoto is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Ajinomoto beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Ajinomoto

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. engages in the seasonings and foods, frozen foods, and healthcare and other businesses in Japan and internationally. The Seasonings and Foods segment offers sauces and seasoning products under the AJI-NO-MOTO, HON-DASHI, Cook Do, Ajinomoto KK Consommé, Pure Select Mayonnaise, Ros Dee, Masako, Aji-ngon, Sazón, Sajiku, and CRISPY FRY names; and solutions and ingredients for foodservice and processed food manufacturers, processed foods, and restaurants, as well as industrial, retail, and other applications. This segment also provides instant noodles under the Knorr Cup Soup and YumYum names; coffee beverages under the Birdy and Blendy brands; powdered drink under the Birdy 3in1 name; MAXIM brand products; Chyotto Zeitakuna Kohiten brand products; and gift sets and office supplies comprising coffee vending machines, tea servers, etc. The Frozen Foods segment offers Chinese dumplings, cooked rice, noodles, desserts, shumai, processed chicken, and other products under the AJINOMOTO FRESH FROZEN, Bernardi, FRED’S, Golden Tiger, José Olé, LingLing, POSADA, and TAI PEI brands. The Healthcare and Other segment provides amino acids for applications in various industries, such as pharmaceuticals and foods; contract development and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical intermediates and active ingredients, aseptic fill finish services, etc.; personal care ingredients; and medical foods, crop services, etc. This segment also offers Ajinomoto Build-up Film, an interlayer insulating material for semiconductor packages; fundamental foods under the Glyna and Amino Aile names; sports nutrition supplements under the amino VITAL brand; and functional materials, such as activated carbon, release paper, etc. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.