Financial Survey: Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) versus Metcash (OTC:MCSHF)

Metcash (OTC:MCSHF) and Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Metcash and Andersons, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Metcash	0	0	0	0	N/A
Andersons	0	0	1	0	3.00

Andersons has a consensus target price of $65.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.23%. Given Andersons’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Andersons is more favorable than Metcash.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

29.0% of Metcash shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.1% of Andersons shares are held by institutional investors. 5.1% of Andersons shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Metcash and Andersons’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Metcash	N/A	N/A	N/A
Andersons	0.89%	7.93%	3.27%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Metcash and Andersons’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Metcash	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.19	13.29
Andersons	$12.36 billion	0.14	$101.19 million	$3.54	14.10

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

Dividends

Metcash pays an annual dividend of 0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.2%. Andersons pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Metcash pays out 135.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Andersons pays out 21.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Andersons has raised its dividend for 26 consecutive years.

Summary

Andersons beats Metcash on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Metcash

Metcash Limited operates as a wholesale distribution and marketing company in Australia. It operates through Food, Liquor, and Hardware segments. The Food segment distributes a range of products and services to independent supermarket and convenience retail outlets. The Hardware segment distributes hardware products to independent retail outlets; and operates company owned retail stores. The Liquor segment engages in the distribution of liquor products to independent retail outlets and hotels. It sells its products under the IGA, Foodland, Mitre 10, Home Hardware, Total Tools, Cellarbrations, IGA Liquor, and the Bottle-O brand names. Metcash Limited was founded in 1927 and is based in Macquarie Park, Australia.

About Andersons

The Andersons, Inc. operates in trade, renewables, and nutrient and industrial sectors in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Egypt, Switzerland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Trade, Renewables, and Nutrient & Industrial. The company’s Trade segment operates grain elevators; stores commodities; and provides grain marketing, risk management, and origination services, as well as sells commodities, such as corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, ethanol, and corn oil. This segment also engages in the commodity merchandising business, as well as offers logistics for physical commodities, such as whole grains, grain products, feed ingredients, domestic fuel products, and other agricultural commodities. Its Renewables segment produces, purchases, and sells ethanol, and co-products, as well as offers facility operations, risk management, and marketing services to the ethanol plants it invests in and operates. The company’s Nutrient & Industrial segment manufactures, distributes, and retails agricultural and related plant nutrients, liquid industrial products, corncob-based products, and pelleted lime and gypsum products, as well as turf fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide products; and crop nutrients, crop protection chemicals, and seed products, as well as provides application and agronomic services to commercial and family farmers. In addition, this segment produces corncob-based products for laboratory animal bedding and private-label cat litter, as well as absorbents, blast cleaners, carriers, and polishers; professional lawn care products for golf course and turf care markets; fertilizer and weed, and pest control products; dry and liquid agricultural nutrients, pelleted lime, gypsum, and soil amendments; and micronutrients, as well as industrial products comprising nitrogen reagents, calcium nitrate, deicers, and dust abatement products. The Andersons, Inc. was founded in 1947 and is based in Maumee, Ohio.