Financial Comparison: Kerry Group (OTCMKTS:KRYAY) & J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM)

Kerry Group (OTCMKTS:KRYAY) and J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Kerry Group and J. M. Smucker, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kerry Group	0	1	3	0	2.75
J. M. Smucker	1	9	10	0	2.45

J. M. Smucker has a consensus target price of $117.94, suggesting a potential upside of 23.45%. Given J. M. Smucker’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe J. M. Smucker is more favorable than Kerry Group.

Dividends

Kerry Group pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. J. M. Smucker pays an annual dividend of $4.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. J. M. Smucker pays out -37.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. J. M. Smucker has raised its dividend for 27 consecutive years. J. M. Smucker is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.2% of Kerry Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.7% of J. M. Smucker shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of J. M. Smucker shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Kerry Group and J. M. Smucker”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kerry Group	$7.64 billion	1.70	$745.03 million	N/A	N/A
J. M. Smucker	$8.73 billion	1.17	-$1.23 billion	($11.79)	-8.10

Kerry Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than J. M. Smucker.

Volatility & Risk

Kerry Group has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, J. M. Smucker has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Kerry Group and J. M. Smucker’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kerry Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
J. M. Smucker	-14.07%	15.94%	5.37%

Summary

J. M. Smucker beats Kerry Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kerry Group

Kerry Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides taste and nutrition solutions. The company operates in two segments, Taste & Nutrition, and Dairy Ireland. The Taste & Nutrition segment offers taste and nutrition solutions for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical markets. The Dairy Ireland segment provides value-add dairy ingredients and consumer products, including functional proteins and nutritional bases. It operates in Ireland, rest of Europe, the Americas, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Kerry Group plc was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Tralee, Ireland.

About J. M. Smucker

The J. M. Smucker Company manufactures and markets branded food and beverage products worldwide. It operates in three segments: U.S. Retail Pet Foods, U.S. Retail Coffee, and U.S. Retail Consumer Foods. The company offers mainstream roast, ground, single serve, and premium coffee; peanut butter and specialty spreads; fruit spreads, toppings, and syrups; jelly products; nut mix products; shortening and oils; frozen sandwiches and snacks; pet food and pet snacks; and foodservice hot beverage, foodservice portion control, and flour products, as well as dog and cat food, frozen handheld products, juices and beverages, and baking mixes and ingredients. It provides its products under the Meow Mix, Milk-Bone, Pup-Peroni, Canine Carry Outs, Folgers, Café Bustelo, Dunkin', Folgers, Café Bustelo, 1850, Jif, Smucker's, Smucker's Uncrustables, Robin Hood, and Five Roses. The company sells its products through direct sales and brokers to food retailers, club stores, discount and dollar stores, online retailers, pet specialty stores, natural foods stores and distributors, drug stores, military commissaries, and mass merchandisers. Smucker Company was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Orrville, Ohio.