Financial Analysis: Conagra Brands (CAG) & Its Rivals

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) is one of 328 public companies in the “Food Products” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Conagra Brands to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Conagra Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Conagra Brands pays out -17.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Food Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 12.3% and pay out 29.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Conagra Brands has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Conagra Brands and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Conagra Brands	5	12	1	0	1.78
Conagra Brands Competitors	2446	8291	8368	403	2.34

Conagra Brands presently has a consensus target price of $14.07, suggesting a potential downside of 7.81%. As a group, “Food Products” companies have a potential upside of 16.17%. Given Conagra Brands’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Conagra Brands has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Conagra Brands and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Conagra Brands	-16.95%	11.46%	4.51%
Conagra Brands Competitors	-13.58%	-142.63%	-2.62%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Conagra Brands and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Conagra Brands	$11.28 billion	-$1.92 billion	-3.83
Conagra Brands Competitors	$15.44 billion	$700.97 million	-2,414.13

Conagra Brands’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Conagra Brands. Conagra Brands is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.8% of Conagra Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Conagra Brands shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.8% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Conagra Brands has a beta of 0.02, indicating that its share price is 98% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Conagra Brands’ competitors have a beta of -3.83, indicating that their average share price is 483% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Conagra Brands competitors beat Conagra Brands on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Conagra Brands Company Profile

Conagra Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer packaged goods food company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice segments. The Grocery & Snacks segment primarily offers shelf stable food products through various retail channels. The Refrigerated & Frozen segment provides temperature-controlled food products through various retail channels. The International segment offers food products in various temperature states through retail and foodservice channels outside of the United States. The Foodservice segment offers branded and customized food products, including meals, entrees, sauces, and various custom-manufactured culinary products packaged for restaurants and other foodservice establishments. The company sells its products under the Birds Eye, Marie Callender's, Duncan Hines, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim, Reddi-wip, Angie's, BOOMCHICKAPOP, Duke's, Earth Balance, Gardein, and Frontera brands. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.