Head-To-Head Review: Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) vs. Dole (NYSE:DOLE)

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) and Dole (NYSE:DOLE) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Corteva pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Dole pays an annual dividend of $0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Corteva pays out 30.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dole pays out 226.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Corteva has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Dole has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Corteva	$16.91 billion	2.65	$907.00 million	$2.34	28.37
Dole	$8.48 billion	0.17	$125.51 million	$0.15	101.84

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

Volatility and Risk

Corteva has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dole has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Corteva and Dole, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Corteva	0	6	16	0	2.73
Dole	0	2	0	0	2.00

Corteva currently has a consensus price target of $78.21, suggesting a potential upside of 17.80%. Dole has a consensus price target of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.74%. Given Corteva’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Corteva is more favorable than Dole.

Profitability

This table compares Corteva and Dole’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Corteva	9.19%	9.37%	5.62%
Dole	0.17%	7.98%	2.56%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.5% of Corteva shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Corteva shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Corteva beats Dole on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Corteva

Corteva, Inc. operates in the agriculture business. It operates through two segments, Seed and Crop Protection. The Seed segment develops and supplies advanced germplasm and traits that produce optimum yield for farms. It offers trait technologies that enhance resistance to weather, disease, insects, and herbicides used to control weeds, as well as food and nutritional characteristics. This segment also provides digital solutions that assist farmer decision-making with a view to optimize product selection, and maximize yield and profitability. The Crop Protection segment offers products that protect against weeds, insects and other pests, and diseases, as well as enhances crop health above and below ground through nitrogen management and seed-applied technologies. This segment provides herbicides, insecticides, nitrogen stabilizers, and pasture and range management herbicides. It serves agricultural input industry. The company operates in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Corteva, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About Dole

Dole Food Company, Inc. (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods. The fresh fruit segment contains operating divisions that produce and market fresh fruit to wholesale, retail and institutional customers worldwide. The fresh vegetables segment produces and markets fresh-packed and value-added vegetables and salads to wholesale, retail and institutional customers, primarily in North America and Europe. The packaged foods segment contains several operating divisions that produce and market packaged foods, including fruit, juices, frozen fruit and healthy snack foods. In November 2013, Dole Food Company, Inc announced that an investor group acquired the remaining 60.43% interest in the Company.