Analyzing Post (NYSE:POST) and Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF)

Post (NYSE:POST) and Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) are both mid-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Post and Chefs’ Warehouse, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Post	0	3	5	0	2.63
Chefs’ Warehouse	1	2	4	0	2.43

Post currently has a consensus price target of $129.67, suggesting a potential upside of 29.45%. Chefs’ Warehouse has a consensus price target of $77.67, suggesting a potential upside of 34.86%. Given Chefs’ Warehouse’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Chefs’ Warehouse is more favorable than Post.

Profitability

This table compares Post and Chefs’ Warehouse’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Post	3.82%	12.37%	3.54%
Chefs’ Warehouse	1.74%	14.75%	4.38%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.9% of Post shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by institutional investors. 14.1% of Post shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Post and Chefs’ Warehouse”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Post	$8.16 billion	0.59	$335.70 million	$5.41	18.52
Chefs’ Warehouse	$4.15 billion	0.57	$72.36 million	$1.65	34.90

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

Volatility & Risk

Post has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chefs’ Warehouse has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Post beats Chefs’ Warehouse on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Chefs’ Warehouse

The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes specialty food and center-of-the-plate products in the United States, the Middle East, and Canada. The company’s product portfolio includes specialty food products, such as artisan charcuterie, specialty cheeses, unique oils and vinegars, truffles, caviar, chocolate, and pastry products; and center-of-the-plate products consisting of custom cut beef, seafood, and hormone-free poultry, as well as broadline food products comprising cooking oils, butter, eggs, milk, and flour. The company serves menu-driven independent restaurants, fine dining establishments, country clubs, hotels, caterers, culinary schools, bakeries, patisseries, chocolatiers, cruise lines, casinos, and specialty food stores. It markets its center-of-the-plate products directly to consumers through a mail and e-commerce platform. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Ridgefield, Connecticut.