Contrasting Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) and GLG Life Tech (OTCMKTS:GLGLF)

Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) and GLG Life Tech (OTCMKTS:GLGLF) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Marzetti and GLG Life Tech, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marzetti	0	3	1	0	2.25
GLG Life Tech	0	0	0	0	0.00

Marzetti currently has a consensus price target of $191.33, indicating a potential upside of 13.93%. Given Marzetti’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Marzetti is more favorable than GLG Life Tech.

Volatility & Risk

Marzetti has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GLG Life Tech has a beta of 2.35, suggesting that its stock price is 135% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Marzetti and GLG Life Tech”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marzetti	$1.91 billion	2.42	$167.35 million	$6.16	27.26
GLG Life Tech	$10.62 million	0.00	$48.29 million	$0.23	N/A

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

Profitability

This table compares Marzetti and GLG Life Tech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marzetti	8.77%	18.86%	14.69%
GLG Life Tech	105.86%	N/A	-91.56%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

66.4% of Marzetti shares are held by institutional investors. 29.1% of Marzetti shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Marzetti beats GLG Life Tech on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Marzetti

Lancaster Colony Corporation engages in the manufacturing and marketing of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Retail and Foodservice. The company offers frozen garlic bread under the New York BRAND Bakery; frozen Parkerhouse style yeast and dinner rolls under the Sister Schubert's brand; salad dressings under the Marzetti, Simply Dressed, Cardini's, and Girard's brands; vegetable and fruit dips under the Marzetti brand; croutons and salad toppings under the New York BRAND Bakery, Chatham Village, and Marzetti brands; and frozen pasta under the Marzetti Frozen Pasta brand. It also manufactures and sells other products to brand license agreements, including Olive Garden dressings, Buffalo Wild Wings sauces, and Chick-fil-A sauces. The company sells its products through sales personnel, food brokers, and distributors to retailers and restaurants. Lancaster Colony Corporation was incorporated in 1961 and is based in Westerville, Ohio.

About GLG Life Tech

GLG Life Tech Corporation researches for, develops, grows, refines, and produces natural sweeteners extracted from the stevia plant and monk fruit in Canada and internationally. It also offers P-Pro Plus, a pea protein product; REB M GOLD, a bioconverted Rebaudioside M and Rebaudioside D. sweetener; and natural ingredients. It serves in the food and beverage industry. The company was formerly known as GLG Life Tech Limited and changed its name to GLG Life Tech Corporation in March 2007. GLG Life Tech Corporation was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Richmond, Canada.