Head to Head Comparison: Jones Soda (OTCMKTS:JSDA) and Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST)

Jones Soda (OTCMKTS:JSDA) and Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

72.4% of Monster Beverage shares are held by institutional investors. 9.8% of Jones Soda shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of Monster Beverage shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Jones Soda and Monster Beverage”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Jones Soda	$19.16 million	1.08	-$9.90 million	($0.05)	-3.56
Monster Beverage	$7.49 billion	8.19	$1.51 billion	$1.61	39.03

Monster Beverage has higher revenue and earnings than Jones Soda. Jones Soda is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Monster Beverage, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Jones Soda and Monster Beverage, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Jones Soda	0	0	0	0	0.00
Monster Beverage	2	8	12	0	2.45

Monster Beverage has a consensus target price of $65.0952, indicating a potential upside of 3.59%. Given Monster Beverage’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Monster Beverage is more favorable than Jones Soda.

Profitability

This table compares Jones Soda and Monster Beverage’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Jones Soda	-32.82%	-109.95%	-38.25%
Monster Beverage	20.54%	27.46%	21.35%

Risk & Volatility

Jones Soda has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Monster Beverage has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Monster Beverage beats Jones Soda on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Jones Soda

Jones Soda Co., together with its subsidiaries, engages in development, production, marketing, and distribution of beverages primarily in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company provides craft sodas under the Jones Soda and Lemoncocco brands; and tetrahydrocannabinol infused cannabis products under the Mary Jones brand name. It also offers co-brand and private label products; fountain products, including cane sugar cola and sugar free cola, cane sugar sweetened ginger ale, orange and cream, root beer, and lemon lime; food products; and other products comprising teas, lemonade, vitamin enhanced waters, hydration beverages, and naturally flavored sparkling waters. The company sells and distributes its products through a network of independent distributors, and directly to national and regional retail accounts, as well as in grocery stores, convenience and gas stores, restaurants, delicatessens, sandwich shops, and burger restaurants; sells various products online, including soda with customized labels, wearables, candy, and other items; and licenses its trademarks for use on products sold by other manufacturers. Jones Soda Co. was founded in 1986 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

About Monster Beverage

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other. It offers carbonated non-carbonated energy drinks, ready-to-drink iced teas, lemonades, juice cocktails, single-serve juices and fruit beverages, ready-to-drink dairy and coffee drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and single-serve still waters, and sodas that are considered natural, sparkling juices, and flavored sparkling beverages. The company sells its products to full service beverage bottlers/distributors, retail grocery and specialty chains, wholesalers, club stores, mass merchandisers, convenience chains, food service customers, value stores, e-commerce retailers, and the military; and concentrates and/or beverage bases to authorized bottling and canning operations. It provides its products under the Monster Energy, Monster Energy Ultra, Monster Rehab, Monster Energy Nitro, Java Monster, Punch Monster, Juice Monster, Muscle Monster, Espresso Monster, Monster Tour Water, Fury, Monster MAXX, Caffe Monster, Monster Hydro, Monster HydroSport Super Fuel, Monster Dragon Tea, Reign Total Body Fuel, and Reign Inferno Thermogenic Fuel, Reign Storm, Bang Energy, NOS, Full Throttle, Burn, Mother, Nalu, Ultra Energy, Play and Power Play (stylized), Relentless, BPM, BU, Gladiator, Samurai, Live+, Predator, and Fury brands. The company was formerly known as Hansen Natural Corporation and changed its name to Monster Beverage Corporation in January 2012. Monster Beverage Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Corona, California.