Reviewing MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) and Heritage Distilling (NASDAQ:CASK)

Heritage Distilling (NASDAQ:CASK) and MGP Ingredients (NASDAQ:MGPI) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Heritage Distilling and MGP Ingredients”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heritage Distilling	$7.27 million	2.95	$710,000.00	N/A	N/A
MGP Ingredients	$609.40 million	0.90	$34.66 million	($0.31)	-83.13

MGP Ingredients has higher revenue and earnings than Heritage Distilling.

Profitability

This table compares Heritage Distilling and MGP Ingredients’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heritage Distilling	-254.24%	-8.56%	-65.59%
MGP Ingredients	-1.08%	10.66%	6.49%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Heritage Distilling and MGP Ingredients, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heritage Distilling	0	0	0	0	0.00
MGP Ingredients	0	1	4	0	2.80

MGP Ingredients has a consensus target price of $50.33, suggesting a potential upside of 95.32%. Given MGP Ingredients’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MGP Ingredients is more favorable than Heritage Distilling.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.1% of MGP Ingredients shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.2% of Heritage Distilling shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 34.4% of MGP Ingredients shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

MGP Ingredients beats Heritage Distilling on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Heritage Distilling

Heritage Distilling Holding Company Inc. is a craft distiller of premium brands, including whiskeys, vodkas, gins, rums and ready-to-drink canned cocktails. Heritage Distilling Holding Company Inc. is based in GIG HARBOR, Wash.

About MGP Ingredients

MGP Ingredients, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and supply of distilled spirits, branded spirits, and food ingredients in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Distillery Solutions; Branded Spirits; and Ingredient Solutions. The Distillery Solutions segment provides food grade alcohol for beverage applications that include bourbon, rye, whiskeys, as well as grain neutral spirits, include vodka and gin; and food-grade industrial alcohol, which is used as an ingredient in food products, personal care products, cleaning solutions, pharmaceuticals, and various other products. This segment also offers distillery co-products, such as dried distillers’ grain, fuel-grade alcohol for blending with gasoline, and corn oil; and provides warehouse services, including barrel put away, barrel storage, and barrel retrieval services, as well as blending services. The Branded Spirits segment provides premium plus, ultra-premium, super premium, premium, mid, and value branded distilled spirits, as well as private label products. The Ingredient Solutions segment provides specialty wheat starches for food applications under the Fibersym, Resistant Starch series, and FiberRite RW Resistant Starch names; specialty wheat proteins for food applications under the Arise and Proterra names; gluten-free textured pea proteins; commodity wheat starch for food and non-food applications; and commodity wheat proteins. It sells its products directly or through distributors to manufacturers and processors of finished packaged goods or to bakeries. The company was founded in 1941 and is based in Atchison, Kansas.