Analyzing Moolec Science (NASDAQ:MLEC) & Dole (NYSE:DOLE)

Dole (NYSE:DOLE) and Moolec Science (NASDAQ:MLEC) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Dole and Moolec Science”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dole	$9.17 billion	0.15	$51.32 million	$0.53	26.93
Moolec Science	$333.61 million	0.01	-$111.46 million	($32.98)	-0.18

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

Volatility and Risk

Dole has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Moolec Science has a beta of -0.66, meaning that its share price is 166% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Dole and Moolec Science’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dole	0.56%	7.81%	2.55%
Moolec Science	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Dole and Moolec Science, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dole	0	3	0	0	2.00
Moolec Science	0	0	0	0	0.00

Dole currently has a consensus price target of $15.50, indicating a potential upside of 8.58%. Given Dole’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Dole is more favorable than Moolec Science.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.1% of Moolec Science shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.9% of Moolec Science shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Dole beats Moolec Science on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Dole

Dole Food Company, Inc. (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods. The fresh fruit segment contains operating divisions that produce and market fresh fruit to wholesale, retail and institutional customers worldwide. The fresh vegetables segment produces and markets fresh-packed and value-added vegetables and salads to wholesale, retail and institutional customers, primarily in North America and Europe. The packaged foods segment contains several operating divisions that produce and market packaged foods, including fruit, juices, frozen fruit and healthy snack foods. In November 2013, Dole Food Company, Inc announced that an investor group acquired the remaining 60.43% interest in the Company.

About Moolec Science

Moolec Science SA, a science-based food ingredient company, focuses on developing real animal proteins in plants using molecular farming. It offers Chymosin SPC, a dairy ingredient; GLA SONOVA, a nutritional oil; POORK+, a plant-based, animal meat free ingredient with porcine proteins in soybeans; and BEEF+, a meat replacement product. It operates in the United States, Europe, and South America. The company was founded in 2020 and is based in Luxembourg.