Contrasting Dole (NYSE:DOLE) & Iron Horse Acquisitions (NASDAQ:UCFI)

Dole (NYSE:DOLE) and Iron Horse Acquisitions (NASDAQ:UCFI) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Dole and Iron Horse Acquisitions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dole	0.46%	7.63%	2.51%
Iron Horse Acquisitions	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Dole has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Iron Horse Acquisitions has a beta of -0.31, indicating that its stock price is 131% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Dole and Iron Horse Acquisitions, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dole	0	4	0	0	2.00
Iron Horse Acquisitions	1	0	0	0	1.00

Dole currently has a consensus price target of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.46%. Given Dole’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Dole is more favorable than Iron Horse Acquisitions.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Dole and Iron Horse Acquisitions”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dole	$9.17 billion	0.13	$51.32 million	$0.45	28.87
Iron Horse Acquisitions	$28.76 million	10.01	$8.41 million	N/A	N/A

Dole has higher revenue and earnings than Iron Horse Acquisitions.

Summary

Dole beats Iron Horse Acquisitions on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Dole

Dole Food Company, Inc. (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods. The fresh fruit segment contains operating divisions that produce and market fresh fruit to wholesale, retail and institutional customers worldwide. The fresh vegetables segment produces and markets fresh-packed and value-added vegetables and salads to wholesale, retail and institutional customers, primarily in North America and Europe. The packaged foods segment contains several operating divisions that produce and market packaged foods, including fruit, juices, frozen fruit and healthy snack foods. In November 2013, Dole Food Company, Inc announced that an investor group acquired the remaining 60.43% interest in the Company.

About Iron Horse Acquisitions

We are a blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us. While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any business, industry or geographic location, we intend to search globally for target companies within the media & entertainment (“M&E”) industry with a primary focus on the United States, and in particular, on identifying attractive targets among content studios and film production, family entertainment, animation, music, gaming, e-sports, talent management, and talent-facing brands and businesses. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to this offering. None of our officers, directors, promoters or other affiliates has engaged in any substantive discussions on our behalf with representatives of other companies regarding the possibility of a potential business combination with us. Our executive offices are located at P.O. Box 2506, Toluca Lake, California.