Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) and SalMar ASA (OTCMKTS:SALRF) Critical Analysis

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) and SalMar ASA (OTCMKTS:SALRF) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.6% of Vital Farms shares are held by institutional investors. 30.2% of Vital Farms shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vital Farms and SalMar ASA’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vital Farms	$471.86 million	3.54	$25.57 million	$0.85	46.60
SalMar ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Vital Farms has higher revenue and earnings than SalMar ASA.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Vital Farms and SalMar ASA, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vital Farms	0	3	4	0	2.57
SalMar ASA	0	1	2	0	2.67

Vital Farms currently has a consensus target price of $34.40, indicating a potential downside of 13.15%. Given Vital Farms’ higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Vital Farms is more favorable than SalMar ASA.

Profitability

This table compares Vital Farms and SalMar ASA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vital Farms	7.48%	19.58%	14.10%
SalMar ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Vital Farms beats SalMar ASA on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vital Farms

Vital Farms, Inc., a food company, provides pasture-raised products in the United States. It offers shell eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs, and liquid whole eggs. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About SalMar ASA

SalMar ASA, an aquaculture company, produces and sells farmed salmon in Asia, North America, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Fish Farming Central Norway, Fish Farming Northern Norway, Icelandic Salmon, Sales & Industry, and SalMar Aker Ocean segments. It is involved in the broodstock, harvesting, processing, and smolt production activities. In addition, the company offers fish fillets and related products. SalMar ASA was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Kverva, Norway.