Critical Review: Grove Collaborative (NYSE:GROV) vs. Kroger (NYSE:KR)

Kroger (NYSE:KR) and Grove Collaborative (NYSE:GROV) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Kroger and Grove Collaborative, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kroger	0	9	12	0	2.57
Grove Collaborative	1	1	1	0	2.00

Kroger presently has a consensus target price of $70.35, indicating a potential upside of 3.74%. Grove Collaborative has a consensus target price of $2.00, indicating a potential upside of 86.05%. Given Grove Collaborative’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Grove Collaborative is more favorable than Kroger.

Profitability

This table compares Kroger and Grove Collaborative’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kroger	0.73%	49.90%	6.28%
Grove Collaborative	-4.07%	N/A	-12.35%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.9% of Kroger shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Grove Collaborative shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Kroger shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 30.3% of Grove Collaborative shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Kroger has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Grove Collaborative has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Kroger and Grove Collaborative”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kroger	$147.64 billion	0.27	$1.02 billion	$1.84	36.86
Grove Collaborative	$173.72 million	0.26	-$11.72 million	($0.19)	-5.66

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

Summary

Kroger beats Grove Collaborative on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kroger

The Kroger Co. operates as a food and drug retailer in the United States. The company operates combination food and drug stores, multi-department stores, marketplace stores, and price impact warehouses. Its combination food and drug stores offer natural food and organic sections, pharmacies, general merchandise, pet centers, fresh seafood, and organic produce; and multi-department stores provide apparel, home fashion and furnishings, outdoor living, electronics, automotive products, and toys. The company’s marketplace stores offer full-service grocery, pharmacy, health and beauty care, and perishable goods, as well as general merchandise, including apparel, home goods, and toys; and price impact warehouse stores provide grocery, and health and beauty care items, as well as meat, dairy, baked goods, and fresh produce items. It also manufactures and processes food products for sale in its supermarkets and online; and sells fuel through fuel centers. The Kroger Co. was founded in 1883 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

About Grove Collaborative

Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc. operates as a plastic neutral consumer products retailer in the United States. It offers household, personal care, beauty, and other consumer products through retail channels, third parties, direct-to-consumer platform, and mobile applications, as well as online store. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.