JBS (NYSE:JBS) and Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Critical Comparison

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) and JBS (NYSE:JBS) are both mid-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.0% of Utz Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.7% of Utz Brands shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Utz Brands and JBS”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Utz Brands	$1.44 billion	1.43	$800,000.00	($0.33)	-43.26
JBS	$86.18 billion	0.11	$2.02 billion	$1.02	11.82

JBS has higher revenue and earnings than Utz Brands. Utz Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than JBS, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Utz Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. JBS pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.3%. Utz Brands pays out -75.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. JBS pays out 98.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Utz Brands has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Risk & Volatility

Utz Brands has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JBS has a beta of -1.44, indicating that its share price is 244% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Utz Brands and JBS, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Utz Brands	1	9	1	0	2.00
JBS	0	2	5	1	2.88

Utz Brands presently has a consensus target price of $13.39, suggesting a potential downside of 6.23%. JBS has a consensus target price of $18.42, suggesting a potential upside of 52.77%. Given JBS’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe JBS is more favorable than Utz Brands.

Profitability

This table compares Utz Brands and JBS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Utz Brands	-2.00%	8.97%	4.32%
JBS	1.22%	12.00%	2.47%

Summary

JBS beats Utz Brands on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Utz Brands

Utz Brands, Inc. engages in manufacture, marketing, and distribution of snack foods. It offers a range of salty snacks, including salty snacks, including potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, pork skins, veggie snacks, pub/party mixes, tortilla chips, salsa and dips, ready-to-eat popcorn, and other snacks under the Utz, Zapp’s, ON THE BORDER, Golden Flake, Boulder Canyon, Hawaiian, TORTIYAHS!, etc. The company sells its products to wholesale and other distributors, grocery stores, convenience and drug stores, discount stores, mass merchandisers, membership club stores, hard discounters, and specialty and e-commerce retailers. Utz Brands, Inc. was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

About JBS

JBS N.V., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a protein and food company worldwide. The company offers beef, pork, chicken, poultry, fish, and lamb products; cooked frozen meat; plant based products; and other food products. It also sells leather, leather, hygiene and cleaning products, collagen, metal packaging, biodiesel, and others, as well as wet blue leather, semi-finished, and finished leather products. In addition, the company is involved in beef processing, such as slaughtering, refrigerating, industrializing, and production of canned beef by-products, as well as fish processing; leather production, processing, and commercialization; production and commercialization of steel cans, plastic resin, soap base for production, soap bar, biodiesel, glycerin, olein, oily acid, collagen, and wrapper derived from cattle tripe; industrial waste management; cold storage; and purchase and sale of soybeans, tallow, palm oil, caustic soda, and stearin. Further, it engages in chicken and pork processing, including raising, slaughtering, and processing of broiler chickens and hogs; production and commercialization of beef and food products; production of pet food and concentrates; electric power production, cogeneration, and commercialization; operates distribution centers and harbors; and provides transportation services and dog biscuits. Additionally, it produces beef jerky; offers cattle fattening and warehousing services; operates logistics; and trades in by products from processing. The company was founded in 1953 and is based in Amstelveen, Netherlands.