Contrasting Premier Foods (OTCMKTS:PRRFY) & General Mills (NYSE:GIS)

Premier Foods (OTCMKTS:PRRFY) and General Mills (NYSE:GIS) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Premier Foods and General Mills’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Premier Foods	N/A	N/A	N/A
General Mills	15.24%	23.46%	6.69%

Dividends

Premier Foods pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. General Mills pays an annual dividend of $2.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. General Mills pays out 46.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. General Mills has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. General Mills is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.7% of General Mills shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of General Mills shares are held 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.

Risk and Volatility

Premier Foods has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Mills has a beta of -0.02, meaning that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Premier Foods and General Mills, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Premier Foods	0	1	0	1	3.00
General Mills	3	9	4	0	2.06

General Mills has a consensus price target of $58.13, suggesting a potential upside of 15.32%. Given General Mills’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe General Mills is more favorable than Premier Foods.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Premier Foods and General Mills”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Premier Foods	$1.45 billion	1.52	$159.36 million	N/A	N/A
General Mills	$19.49 billion	1.38	$2.30 billion	$5.29	9.53

General Mills has higher revenue and earnings than Premier Foods.

Summary

General Mills beats Premier Foods on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Premier Foods

Premier Foods plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes branded and own label food products in the United Kingdom, other European countries, and internationally. The company operates through Grocery, Sweet Treats, and international segments. It offers a portfolio of product categories, including flavorings and seasonings under the Bisto, OXO, Paxo, and Saxa brands; cooking sauces and accompaniments under the Sharwood's, Loyd Grossman, Spice Tailor and Homepride brands; quick meals, snacks, and soups under the Batchelors and Smash brands; ambient desserts under the Ambrosia, Bird's, and Angel Delight brands; and ambient cakes under the Mr Kipling and Cadbury brands. The company also provides dumplings under the Atora brand name; plain flour under the Be-Ro brand; dried milk under the Marvel brand name; plain and self-raising flour under the McDougalls brand; and plant based food under the Plantastic brand name. It offers its products through supermarkets, discounters, convenience stores, and wholesale and food service facilities, as well as through e-commerce channels. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Saint Albans, the United Kingdom.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables. The company also manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food; and operates ice cream parlors. It markets its products under the Annie’s, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Blue Buffalo, Bugles, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Dunkaroos, Edgard & Cooper, Fiber One, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gardetto’s, Gold Medal, Golden Grahams, Häagen-Dazs, Kitano, Kix, Lärabar, Latina, Lucky Charms, Muir Glen, Nature Valley, Nudges, Oatmeal Crisp, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Progresso, Tastefuls, Total, Totino’s , Trix, True Chews, True Solutions, Wanchai Ferry, Wheaties, Wilderness, and Yoki brands. The company sells its products to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, e-commerce retailers, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, convenience stores, and pet specialty stores. General Mills, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.