Critical Review: Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) versus Borealis Foods (NASDAQ:BRLS)

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) and Borealis Foods (NASDAQ:BRLS) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends and valuation.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ingredion and Borealis Foods”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ingredion	$7.22 billion	0.93	$729.00 million	$10.38	10.22
Borealis Foods	$27.67 million	1.03	-$25.33 million	($0.86)	-1.55

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

Volatility and Risk

Ingredion has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Borealis Foods has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

85.3% of Ingredion shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.7% of Borealis Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Ingredion shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.2% of Borealis Foods shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Ingredion and Borealis Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ingredion	0	7	2	0	2.22
Borealis Foods	1	0	0	0	1.00

Ingredion currently has a consensus target price of $122.43, indicating a potential upside of 15.42%. Given Ingredion’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ingredion is more favorable than Borealis Foods.

Profitability

This table compares Ingredion and Borealis Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ingredion	9.36%	15.86%	8.66%
Borealis Foods	-65.11%	N/A	-31.61%

Summary

Ingredion beats Borealis Foods on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ingredion

Ingredion Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells sweeteners, starches, nutrition ingredients, and biomaterial solutions derived from wet milling and processing corn, and other starch-based materials to a range of industries in North America, South America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers starch products for use in a range of processed foods; cornstarch; specialty paper starches for enhanced drainage, fiber retention, oil and grease resistance, improved printability, and biochemical oxygen demand control; starches and specialty starches for textile industry; industrial starches are used in the production of construction materials, textiles, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, as well as in mining and water filtration; and specialty industrial starches for use in biomaterial applications, including biodegradable plastics, fabric softeners and detergents, hair and skin care applications, dusting powders for surgical gloves, and in the production of glass fiber and insulation. It also provides sweetener products comprising glucose syrups, high maltose syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, polyols, maltodextrin, glucose syrup solids, and non-genetically modified organism syrups for applications in food and beverage products, such as baked goods, snack foods, canned fruits, condiments, candy and other sweets, dairy products, ice cream, jams and jellies, prepared mixes, table syrups, and beverages. In addition, the company sells refined corn oil, corn gluten feed, and corn gluten meal; and other products, including fruit and vegetable products, such as concentrates, purees, and essences, as well as pulse proteins and hydrocolloids systems and blends. The company was formerly known as Corn Products International, Inc. and changed its name to Ingredion Incorporated in June 2012. Ingredion Incorporated was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Westchester, Illinois.

About Borealis Foods

Borealis Foods Inc. operates as a food technology company that develops plant-based ready-to-eat meals. The company also developed ambient ready-to-eat high-protein meals for U.S. and global humanitarian food programs. Its products include Chef Woo, a plant based instant ramen meals that provides with 20 grams of plant-based complete protein; and Ramen Express, a vegetarian ramen noodles. The company distributes its products via retail partners across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe and also sells its products online. The company is based in Oakville, Canada.