Analyzing Ahold (OTCMKTS:ADRNY) and Energizer (NYSE:ENR)

Energizer (NYSE:ENR) and Ahold (OTCMKTS:ADRNY) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.7% of Energizer shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.2% of Ahold shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Energizer shares are held by 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 Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Energizer and Ahold, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Energizer	0	7	1	0	2.13
Ahold	0	2	0	2	3.00

Energizer presently has a consensus price target of $23.14, suggesting a potential upside of 27.11%. Given Energizer’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Energizer is more favorable than Ahold.

Profitability

This table compares Energizer and Ahold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Energizer	6.55%	144.22%	5.37%
Ahold	2.48%	17.29%	4.96%

Volatility & Risk

Energizer has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ahold has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Energizer pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%. Ahold pays an annual dividend of €1.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Energizer pays out 44.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ahold pays out 47.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Energizer is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Energizer and Ahold”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Energizer	$2.98 billion	0.42	$239.00 million	$2.73	6.67
Ahold	$104.46 billion	0.36	$2.56 billion	€2.93	14.38

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

Summary

Energizer beats Ahold on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Energizer

Energizer Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes household batteries, specialty batteries, and lighting products worldwide. It offers lithium, alkaline, carbon zinc, nickel metal hydride, zinc air, and silver oxide batteries under the Energizer, Eveready, and Rayovac brands; primary, rechargeable, specialty, and hearing aid batteries; and handheld, headlights, lanterns, and area lights, as well as flashlights under the Hard Case, Dolphin, and WeatherReady brands. The company licenses the Energizer, Rayovac, and Eveready brands to companies developing consumer solutions in solar, automotive batteries, portable power for critical devices, generators, power tools, household light bulbs, and other lighting products. In addition, it designs and markets automotive fragrance and appearance products, including protectants, wipes, tire and wheel care products, glass cleaners, leather care products, air fresheners, and washes to clean, shine, refresh, and protect interior and exterior automobile surfaces under the brand names of Armor All, Nu Finish, Refresh Your Car!, LEXOL, Eagle One, California Scents, Driven, Bahama & Co, Carnu, Grand Prix, Kit, and Tempo; STP branded fuel and oil additives, functional fluids, and other performance chemical products; and do-it-yourself automotive air conditioning recharge products under the A/C PRO brand name, as well as other refrigerant and recharge kits, sealants, and accessories. The company sells its products through direct sales force, distributors, and wholesalers; and various retail and business-to-business channels, including mass merchandisers, club, electronics, food, home improvement, dollar store, auto, drug, hardware, e-commerce, convenience, sporting goods, hobby/craft, office, industrial, medical, and catalog. Energizer Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

About Ahold

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. operates retail food stores and e-commerce in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company's stores offer produce, dairy, meat, deli, bakery, seafood, and frozen products; grocery, beer, and wine; floral, pet food, health and beauty care, kitchen and cookware, gardening tools, general merchandise articles, electronics, newspapers and magazines, tobacco, etc.; gasoline; and pharmacy products. It operates its supermarkets, convenience stores, and online stores under the Food Lion, Stop & Shop, The GIANT Company, Hannaford, Giant Food, FreshDirect, Albert Heijn, bol.com, Etos, Gall & Gall, Delhaize, Albert, Alfa Beta Vassilopoulos, Mega Image, Delhaize Serbia, Peapod Digital labs, and Retail Business Service brands. The company was formerly known as Koninklijke Ahold N.V. and changed its name to Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. in July 2016. Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Zaandam, the Netherlands.