Marine Harvest ASA (OTCMKTS:MHGVY) and Post (NYSE:POST) Financial Analysis

Marine Harvest ASA (OTCMKTS:MHGVY) and Post (NYSE:POST) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Marine Harvest ASA and Post, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marine Harvest ASA	0	2	0	3	3.20
Post	0	4	5	0	2.56

Post has a consensus price target of $128.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.06%. Given Post’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Post is more favorable than Marine Harvest ASA.

Volatility & Risk

Marine Harvest ASA has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Post has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

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

Profitability

This table compares Marine Harvest ASA and Post’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marine Harvest ASA	13.70%	12.23%	5.69%
Post	3.82%	12.37%	3.54%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Marine Harvest ASA and Post”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marine Harvest ASA	$6.47 billion	1.83	$812.34 million	$1.59	14.14
Post	$8.16 billion	0.59	$335.70 million	$5.41	18.48

Marine Harvest ASA has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Post. Marine Harvest ASA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Post, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Post beats Marine Harvest ASA on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Marine Harvest ASA

Mowi ASA, a seafood company, farms, produces, and supplies Atlantic salmon products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Feed, Farming, and Sales and Marketing. The company is involved in the salmon feed production, salmon farming and primary processing, and seafood secondary processing activities. It offers whole fish, plain and marinated fillets and steaks, hot- and cold-smoked salmon, burgers and tartars, patties, gravad, sushi, and breaded products under the Ducktrap, MOWI, and Supreme Salmon brands. The company was formerly known as Marine Harvest ASA and changed its name to Mowi ASA in December 2018. Mowi ASA was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Bergen, Norway.

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.