Critical Contrast: SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) & John B. Sanfilippo & Son (NASDAQ:JBSS)

SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) and John B. Sanfilippo & Son (NASDAQ:JBSS) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for SunOpta and John B. Sanfilippo & Son, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SunOpta	1	2	2	0	2.20
John B. Sanfilippo & Son	0	2	1	0	2.33

SunOpta currently has a consensus target price of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.25%. John B. Sanfilippo & Son has a consensus target price of $109.00, indicating a potential upside of 39.83%. Given John B. Sanfilippo & Son’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe John B. Sanfilippo & Son is more favorable than SunOpta.

Profitability

This table compares SunOpta and John B. Sanfilippo & Son’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SunOpta	1.93%	14.83%	3.45%
John B. Sanfilippo & Son	5.76%	18.11%	10.88%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

85.4% of SunOpta shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.6% of John B. Sanfilippo & Son shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of SunOpta shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 30.2% of John B. Sanfilippo & Son shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares SunOpta and John B. Sanfilippo & Son”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SunOpta	$817.72 million	0.96	$15.77 million	$0.13	49.93
John B. Sanfilippo & Son	$1.16 billion	0.78	$58.93 million	$5.70	13.68

John B. Sanfilippo & Son has higher revenue and earnings than SunOpta. John B. Sanfilippo & Son is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SunOpta, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

SunOpta has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, John B. Sanfilippo & Son has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

John B. Sanfilippo & Son beats SunOpta on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SunOpta

SunOpta Inc. engages in manufacture and sale of plant-based and fruit-based food and beverage products in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company provides plant-based beverages utilizing oat, almond, soy, coconut, rice, hemp, and other bases under the Dream and West Life brands; oat-based creamers under the SOWN brand; ready-to-drink protein shakes; and nut, grain, seed, and legume based beverages; packaged teas and concentrates; and meat and vegetable broths and stocks. It also offers plant-based ingredients, such as oatbase, oatgold, soybase, hempbase, and soypowders and okara; ready-to-eat fruit snacks made from apple purée and juice concentrate in bar, bit, twist, strip and sandwich formats; cold pressed fruit bars; liquid and powder ingredients utilizing oat, soy and hemp bases; ready-to-eat fruit smoothie and chia bowls topped with frozen fruit; consumer products, which includes protein shakes, teas, broths, and fruit snacks; and liquid and dry ingredients for internal use and for sale to other food and beverage manufacturers. It sells its products through various distribution channels including private label products to retail customers; branded products under co-manufacturing agreements to other branded food companies for their distribution; and its own branded products to retail and foodservice customers. The company was formerly known as Stake Technology Ltd. and changed its name to SunOpta Inc. in October 2003. SunOpta Inc. was incorporated in 1973 and is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

About John B. Sanfilippo & Son

John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. engages in the processing and distribution of nuts and nut-related products. It offers peanuts, pecans, cashews, walnuts, almonds, and other nuts under the brands of Fisher, Orchard Valley Harvest, Squirrel Brand, and Southern Style Nuts. The company was founded by Gaspare Sanfilippo and John B. Sanfilippo in 1922 and is headquartered in Elgin, IL.