Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) versus Bridgford Foods (NASDAQ:BRID) Financial Review

Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) and Bridgford Foods (NASDAQ:BRID) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Nomad Foods has a beta of 0.74, suggesting that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bridgford Foods has a beta of -0.27, suggesting that its stock price is 127% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Nomad Foods and Bridgford Foods’ 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%
Bridgford Foods	-5.60%	-11.02%	-8.77%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.3% of Nomad Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.7% of Bridgford Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 80.7% of Bridgford Foods shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Nomad Foods and Bridgford Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nomad Foods	2	1	3	0	2.17
Bridgford Foods	1	0	0	0	1.00

Nomad Foods presently has a consensus target price of $12.50, suggesting a potential upside of 29.47%. Given Nomad Foods’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Nomad Foods is more favorable than Bridgford Foods.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nomad Foods and Bridgford Foods”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nomad Foods	$3.43 billion	0.40	$154.66 million	$1.02	9.47
Bridgford Foods	$230.99 million	0.29	-$13.36 million	($1.44)	-5.06

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

Summary

Nomad Foods beats Bridgford Foods on 13 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 Bridgford Foods

Bridgford Foods Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes frozen and snack food products in the United States. It operates in two segments, Frozen Food Products and Snack Food Products. The company offers biscuits, bread dough items, roll dough items, and dry sausage and beef jerky products, as well as ready to eat sandwiches and non-refrigerated snack food products. It provides frozen food products to food service and retail customers through wholesalers, cooperatives, and distributors; and snack food items to supermarkets, mass merchandise, and convenience retail stores through customer-owned distribution centers, as well as a direct store delivery network. The company was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Bridgford Foods Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Bridgford Industries Incorporated.