Head-To-Head Comparison: Post (NYSE:POST) and Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO)

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) and Post (NYSE:POST) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Flowers Foods has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Post has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Flowers Foods and Post”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flowers Foods	$5.26 billion	0.33	$83.82 million	$0.40	20.34
Post	$8.16 billion	0.57	$335.70 million	$5.41	17.96

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.5% of Flowers Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Post shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.6% of Flowers Foods shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.1% of Post shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Flowers Foods and Post’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flowers Foods	1.59%	16.61%	5.38%
Post	3.82%	12.37%	3.54%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Flowers Foods and Post, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flowers Foods	2	4	0	0	1.67
Post	0	3	5	0	2.63

Flowers Foods currently has a consensus target price of $11.80, suggesting a potential upside of 45.05%. Post has a consensus target price of $129.67, suggesting a potential upside of 33.42%. Given Flowers Foods’ higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Flowers Foods is more favorable than Post.

Summary

Post beats Flowers Foods on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc. produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack items, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs. Freshley's, and Tastykake brand names. The company distributes its products through a direct-store-delivery distribution and a warehouse delivery system, as well as operates bakeries. Its customers include national and regional restaurants, institutions and foodservice distributors, and retail in-store bakeries; wholesale distributors; mass merchandisers, supermarkets, vending outlets, and convenience stores; quick-serve chains, food wholesalers, institutions, dollar stores, and vending companies; and public health care, military commissaries, and prisons, and other governmental institutions. The company was formerly known as Flowers Industries and changed its name to Flowers Foods, Inc. in 2001. Flowers Foods, Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia.

About Post

Post Holdings, Inc. operates as a consumer packaged goods holding company in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice, and Refrigerated Retail. The Post Consumer Brands segment manufactures, markets, and sells branded and private label ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals under Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, and Malt-O-Meal brand names; hot cereal; peanut butter under the Peter Pan brand; and branded and private label dog and cat food products under Rachael Ray Nutrish, Nature's Recipe, 9Lives, Kibbles 'n Bits and Gravy Train brand names. The Weetabix segment primarily manufactures, markets, and distributes branded and private label RTE cereal under Weetabix and Alpen brands; hot cereals and other cereal-based food products; breakfast drinks; protein-based shakes under the UFIT brand, and nutritional snacks, such as muesli. The Foodservice segment produces and distributes egg products primarily under Papetti's and Abbotsford Farms brands, as well as potato products in the foodservice and food ingredient channels. The segment also manufactures certain meat products. The Refrigerated Retail segment produces and distributes side dish, potato, sausage products under Bob Evans, Bob Evans Farms, and Simply Potatoes brands; eggs and egg products under Bob Evans Egg Whites and Egg Beaters brands; and cheese, and other dairy and refrigerated products under Crystal Farms brand. It serves grocery stores, mass merchandise customers, supercenters, club stores, natural/specialty stores, dollar stores, discounters, wholesalers, convenience stores, pet supply retailers, drug store customers, foodservice distributors, and national restaurant chains, as well as sells its products in the military, ecommerce, and foodservice channels. The company was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.