Tate & Lyle (OTCMKTS:TATYY) and General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Critical Comparison

Tate & Lyle (OTCMKTS:TATYY) and General Mills (NYSE:GIS) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Tate & Lyle has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Mills has a beta of 0.01, meaning that its share price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Tate & Lyle pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. General Mills pays an annual dividend of $2.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.9%. General Mills pays out 59.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. General Mills has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. General Mills is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Tate & Lyle and General Mills’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tate & Lyle	N/A	N/A	N/A
General Mills	12.05%	19.19%	5.48%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Tate & Lyle and General Mills”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tate & Lyle	$2.21 billion	0.98	$182.45 million	N/A	N/A
General Mills	$19.49 billion	0.96	$2.30 billion	$4.09	8.60

General Mills has higher revenue and earnings than Tate & Lyle.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Tate & Lyle and General Mills, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tate & Lyle	1	3	0	1	2.20
General Mills	6	11	4	0	1.90

General Mills has a consensus price target of $43.22, indicating a potential upside of 22.90%. Given General Mills’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe General Mills is more favorable than Tate & Lyle.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.7% of General Mills shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Tate & Lyle shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of General Mills shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

General Mills beats Tate & Lyle on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle PLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides ingredients and solutions to the food, beverage, and other industries in the United States, the United Kingdom, other European countries, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Food & Beverage Solutions, Sucralose, and Primary Products. The company offers dairy products, soups, sauces, and dressings; bakery products and snacks; texturants; nutritive sweeteners, such as high fructose corn syrup and dextrose; fibres; and stabilizers and functional systems. It also provides industrial starches; acidulants, such as citric acid; and commodities comprising corn gluten feed, meal, and corn oil. The company was incorporated in 1903 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables. The company also manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food; and operates ice cream parlors. It markets its products under the Annie’s, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Blue Buffalo, Bugles, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Dunkaroos, Edgard & Cooper, Fiber One, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gardetto’s, Gold Medal, Golden Grahams, Häagen-Dazs, Kitano, Kix, Lärabar, Latina, Lucky Charms, Muir Glen, Nature Valley, Nudges, Oatmeal Crisp, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Progresso, Tastefuls, Total, Totino’s , Trix, True Chews, True Solutions, Wanchai Ferry, Wheaties, Wilderness, and Yoki brands. The company sells its products to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, e-commerce retailers, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, convenience stores, and pet specialty stores. General Mills, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.