Analyzing George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) and Bridgford Foods (NASDAQ:BRID)

George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) and Bridgford Foods (NASDAQ:BRID) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for George Weston and Bridgford Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
George Weston	0	2	4	0	2.67
Bridgford Foods	1	0	0	0	1.00

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.0% of George Weston shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.7% of Bridgford Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 53.6% of George Weston shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 80.7% of Bridgford Foods shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares George Weston and Bridgford Foods”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
George Weston	$46.17 billion	0.57	$817.33 million	$2.02	34.57
Bridgford Foods	$230.99 million	0.31	-$13.36 million	($1.44)	-5.42

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

Profitability

This table compares George Weston and Bridgford Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
George Weston	1.71%	13.76%	3.42%
Bridgford Foods	-5.60%	-11.02%	-8.77%

Risk and Volatility

George Weston has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bridgford Foods has a beta of -0.23, indicating that its stock price is 123% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

George Weston beats Bridgford Foods on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About George Weston

George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services. This segment also offers credit card and other banking services, insurance brokerage services, guaranteed investment certificates, and wireless mobile products and services. The Choice Properties segment owns, operates, manages, and develops retail commercial and residential properties, leased to necessity-based tenants, industrial, and mixed-use and residential assets. It markets its products under the Shoppers Drug Mart, Joe Fresh, President’s Choice Bank, no name, Farmer’s Market, T&T, Life Brand, and PC Optimum brands. The company was founded in 1882 and is based in Toronto, Canada. George Weston Limited operates as a subsidiary of Wittington Investments, Limited.

About Bridgford Foods

Bridgford Foods Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes frozen and snack food products in the United States. It operates in two segments, Frozen Food Products and Snack Food Products. The company offers biscuits, bread dough items, roll dough items, and dry sausage and beef jerky products, as well as ready to eat sandwiches and non-refrigerated snack food products. It provides frozen food products to food service and retail customers through wholesalers, cooperatives, and distributors; and snack food items to supermarkets, mass merchandise, and convenience retail stores through customer-owned distribution centers, as well as a direct store delivery network. The company was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Bridgford Foods Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Bridgford Industries Incorporated.