Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) & BranchOut Food (NASDAQ:BOF) Critical Analysis

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) and BranchOut Food (NASDAQ:BOF) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Lamb Weston has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BranchOut Food has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Lamb Weston and BranchOut Food”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lamb Weston	$6.47 billion	1.09	$725.50 million	$2.55	19.61
BranchOut Food	$6.52 million	3.85	-$4.75 million	($0.70)	-3.74

Lamb Weston has higher revenue and earnings than BranchOut Food. BranchOut Food is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lamb Weston, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Lamb Weston and BranchOut Food, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lamb Weston	0	8	4	0	2.33
BranchOut Food	0	0	0	0	0.00

Lamb Weston currently has a consensus target price of $67.64, suggesting a potential upside of 35.26%. Given Lamb Weston’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lamb Weston is more favorable than BranchOut Food.

Profitability

This table compares Lamb Weston and BranchOut Food’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lamb Weston	5.74%	27.25%	6.31%
BranchOut Food	-56.05%	-189.91%	-42.79%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

89.6% of Lamb Weston shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.6% of BranchOut Food shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Lamb Weston shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 30.8% of BranchOut Food shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Lamb Weston beats BranchOut Food on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lamb Weston

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. produces, distributes, and markets frozen potato products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. It offers frozen potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as under various customer labels. The company also provides its products under its owned or licensed brands, such as Grown in Idaho and Alexia, and other licensed brands, as well as under retailers' own brands. In addition, it engages in the vegetable and dairy businesses. The company sells its products through a network of internal sales personnel and independent brokers, agents, and distributors to chain restaurants, wholesale, grocery, mass merchants, club and specialty retailers, businesses, educational institutions, independent restaurants, regional chain restaurants, and convenience stores. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1950 and is headquartered in Eagle, Idaho.

About BranchOut Food

BranchOut Food Inc. develops, markets, sells, and distributes plant-based dehydrated fruit and vegetable snacks, and powders in the United States. The company offers dehydrated fruit and vegetable-based snacks, including avocado chips, chewy banana bites, pineapple chips, brussels sprout crisps, and bell pepper crisps; avocado, banana, and blueberry powders; and industrial ingredients, such as bulk avocado powder, dried avocado pieces, and other fruit powders/pieces. It also provides chocolate covered fruit items and private label products for retailers. The company was formerly known as AvoLov, LLC and changed its name to BranchOut Food Inc. in November 2021. BranchOut Food Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Bend, Oregon.