Head to Head Contrast: Limoneira (NASDAQ:LMNR) vs. Cibus (NASDAQ:CBUS)

Limoneira (NASDAQ:LMNR) and Cibus (NASDAQ:CBUS) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Limoneira has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cibus has a beta of 1.72, suggesting that its share price is 72% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

64.4% of Limoneira shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.8% of Cibus shares are held by institutional investors. 8.9% of Limoneira shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 31.2% of Cibus shares are held 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Limoneira and Cibus, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Limoneira	1	1	2	0	2.25
Cibus	0	0	2	0	3.00

Limoneira presently has a consensus price target of $20.50, suggesting a potential upside of 37.40%. Cibus has a consensus price target of $21.25, suggesting a potential upside of 1,485.82%. Given Cibus’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cibus is more favorable than Limoneira.

Profitability

This table compares Limoneira and Cibus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Limoneira	-5.69%	-5.01%	-3.10%
Cibus	-5,681.55%	-83.67%	-20.85%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Limoneira and Cibus”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Limoneira	$191.50 million	1.41	$7.72 million	($0.55)	-27.13
Cibus	$4.26 million	17.06	-$251.39 million	($10.45)	-0.13

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

Summary

Limoneira beats Cibus on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Limoneira

Limoneira Company operates as an agribusiness and real estate development company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three divisions: Agribusiness, Rental Operations, and Real Estate Development. It grows, processes, packs, markets, and sells lemons. The company also grows avocado, oranges, and specialty citrus and other crops, including Moro blood oranges, Cara Cara oranges, Valencia oranges, Minneola tangelos, Star Ruby grapefruit, pummelos, and wine grapes. It has approximately 3,500 acres of lemons planted primarily in Ventura, Tulare, San Luis Obispo, and San Bernardino Counties in California; and Jujuy, Argentina, as well in Yuma County, Arizona, and La Serena, Chile; 1,200 acres of avocados planted in Ventura County; 100 acres of oranges planted in Tulare County, California; and 400 acres of specialty citrus and other crops. In addition, the company rents residential housing units and commercial office buildings, as well as leases approximately 400 acres of its land to third-party agricultural tenants. Further, it is involved in the organic recycling operations; and development of land parcels, multi-family housing, and single-family homes. The company markets and sells its lemons directly to food service, wholesale, and retail customers; avocados, oranges, specialty citrus, and other crops to third-party packinghouses; and wine grapes to wine producers. Limoneira Company was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Santa Paula, California.

About Cibus

Cibus, Inc., a agricultural biotechnology company, develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies for royalties. The company primarily focus on trait productivity in two areas, including productivity traits that enable farmers to have higher yields and reduce the use of the crop protection chemicals and fertilizers; and sustainable ingredients that enable corporations to replace ingredients that are fossil fuel based or whose production results in increased greenhouse gases. Cibus, Inc. is based in San Diego, California.