Critical Analysis: Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) and Celsius (NASDAQ:CELH)

Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) and Celsius (NASDAQ:CELH) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Nomad Foods and Celsius”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nomad Foods	$3.43 billion	0.41	$154.66 million	$1.02	9.59
Celsius	$2.52 billion	3.52	$108.00 million	$0.25	137.92

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

Profitability

This table compares Nomad Foods and Celsius’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nomad Foods	4.50%	9.83%	3.95%
Celsius	4.29%	37.68%	9.62%

Volatility & Risk

Nomad Foods has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Celsius has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.3% of Nomad Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.0% of Celsius shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.3% of Nomad Foods shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Celsius shares are owned by company 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 Nomad Foods and Celsius, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nomad Foods	2	1	3	0	2.17
Celsius	0	3	20	0	2.87

Nomad Foods currently has a consensus price target of $12.75, suggesting a potential upside of 30.30%. Celsius has a consensus price target of $66.17, suggesting a potential upside of 91.90%. Given Celsius’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Celsius is more favorable than Nomad Foods.

Summary

Celsius beats Nomad Foods on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nomad Foods

Nomad Foods Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of frozen food products in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company offers frozen fish products, including fish fingers, coated fish, and natural fish; ready-to-cook vegetable products, such as peas and spinach; and frozen poultry and meat products comprising nuggets, grills, and burgers. It also provides meal products that include ready-to-cook noodles, pasta, lasagna, pancakes, and other ready-made meals; ice creams, such as in-home and out-of-home ice creams; and other products consisting of soups, pizzas, bakery goods, and meat substitutes. The company sells its products to supermarkets and food retail chains primarily under the Birds Eye, Green Cuisine, iglo, Findus, Aunt Bessie's, Goodfella's, Frikom, Ledo, La Cocinera, and Belviva brand names. Nomad Foods Limited was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Feltham, the United Kingdom.

About Celsius

Celsius Holdings, Inc. develops, processes, markets, distributes, and sells functional energy drinks and liquid supplements in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canadian, European, Middle Eastern, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers CELSIUS, a fitness drink or supplement designed to accelerate metabolism and burn body fat; various flavors and carbonated and non-carbonated functional energy drinks under the CELSIUS Originals and Vibe name, as well as functional energy drink under the CELSIUS Essentials and CELSIUS On-the-Go Powder names; and CELSIUS ready-to drink products. It distributes its products through direct-to-store delivery, distributors, supermarkets, convenience stores, drug stores, nutritional stores, and mass merchants, as well as health clubs, gyms, the military, and e-commerce websites. The company was formerly known as Vector Ventures, Inc. and changed its name to Celsius Holdings, Inc. in January 2007. Celsius Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.