Financial Review: Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) vs. Grove Collaborative (NYSE:GROV)

Grove Collaborative (NYSE:GROV) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.6% of Grove Collaborative shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Colgate-Palmolive shares are held by institutional investors. 30.3% of Grove Collaborative shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Colgate-Palmolive shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Grove Collaborative and Colgate-Palmolive’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grove Collaborative	-5.52%	N/A	-16.95%
Colgate-Palmolive	10.04%	386.76%	17.89%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Grove Collaborative and Colgate-Palmolive, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grove Collaborative	1	0	1	0	2.00
Colgate-Palmolive	0	7	12	0	2.63

Grove Collaborative presently has a consensus target price of $2.00, suggesting a potential upside of 86.92%. Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus target price of $97.41, suggesting a potential upside of 5.97%. Given Grove Collaborative’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Grove Collaborative is more favorable than Colgate-Palmolive.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Grove Collaborative and Colgate-Palmolive”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grove Collaborative	$173.72 million	0.26	-$11.72 million	($0.26)	-4.12
Colgate-Palmolive	$20.38 billion	3.61	$2.13 billion	$2.57	35.77

Colgate-Palmolive has higher revenue and earnings than Grove Collaborative. Grove Collaborative is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Colgate-Palmolive, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Grove Collaborative has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colgate-Palmolive has a beta of 0.33, suggesting that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Colgate-Palmolive beats Grove Collaborative on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Grove Collaborative

Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc. operates as a plastic neutral consumer products retailer in the United States. It offers household, personal care, beauty, and other consumer products through retail channels, third parties, direct-to-consumer platform, and mobile applications, as well as online store. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells consumer products in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care; and Pet Nutrition. The Oral, Personal and Home Care segment offers toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, bar and liquid hand soaps, shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and antiperspirants, skin health products, dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, and other related items. This segment markets and sells its products under various brands, which include Colgate, Darlie, elmex, hello, meridol, Sorriso, Tom's of Maine, Irish Spring, Palmolive, Protex, Sanex, Softsoap, Lady Speed Stick, Speed Stick, EltaMD, Filorga, PCA SKIN, Ajax, Axion, Fabuloso, Murphy, Suavitel, and Soupline to a range of traditional and eCommerce retailers, wholesalers, and distributors. It includes pharmaceutical products for dentists and other oral health professionals. Its Pet Nutrition segment offers pet nutrition products for everyday nutritional needs under the Hill's Science Diet brand; and a range of therapeutic pet products to help nutritionally support dogs and cats in different stages of health under the Hill's Prescription Diet brand. This segment markets and sells its products through pet supply retailers, veterinarians, and eCommerce retailers. Colgate-Palmolive Company was founded in 1806 and is headquartered in New York, New York.