Head-To-Head Review: The Hain Celestial Group (NASDAQ:HAIN) versus Medifast (NYSE:MED)

The Hain Celestial Group (NASDAQ:HAIN) and Medifast (NYSE:MED) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for The Hain Celestial Group and Medifast, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
The Hain Celestial Group	1	10	1	0	2.00
Medifast	1	1	0	0	1.50

The Hain Celestial Group currently has a consensus price target of $2.76, indicating a potential upside of 157.53%. Medifast has a consensus price target of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 52.07%. Given The Hain Celestial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe The Hain Celestial Group is more favorable than Medifast.

Profitability

This table compares The Hain Celestial Group and Medifast’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
The Hain Celestial Group	-34.69%	0.77%	0.27%
Medifast	0.06%	-0.89%	-0.69%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.0% of The Hain Celestial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Medifast shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of The Hain Celestial Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Medifast shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

The Hain Celestial Group has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medifast has a beta of 0.48, meaning that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares The Hain Celestial Group and Medifast”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
The Hain Celestial Group	$1.56 billion	0.06	-$530.84 million	($5.93)	-0.18
Medifast	$602.46 million	0.20	$2.09 million	$0.01	1,085.00

Medifast has lower revenue, but higher earnings than The Hain Celestial Group. The Hain Celestial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Medifast, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

The Hain Celestial Group beats Medifast on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About The Hain Celestial Group

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. manufactures, markets, and sells organic and natural products in United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and internationally. It operates through two segments: North America and International. The company offers infant formula; infant, toddler, and kids' food; plant-based beverages and frozen desserts, such as soy, rice, oat, and spelt; and condiments. It also provides cooking and culinary oils; cereal bars; fresh and aseptic soups; yogurts; and nut butters. In addition, the company offers hot-eating desserts, refrigerated and frozen plant-based meat-alternative products, jams, fruit spreads, jellies, honey, natural sweeteners, syrups, dessert sauces, and marmalade products, as well as other food products. Further, it provides snack products comprising potato, root vegetable and other exotic vegetable chips, straws, tortilla chips; and personal care products that include hand, skin, hair, and oral care products, as well as deodorants, baby food, sunscreens, and other products under the Alba Botanica, Avalon Organics, Earth's Best, JASON, Live Clean, and Queen Helene brands name. Additionally, the company offers herbal, green, black, wellness, rooibos, and chai tea under the Celestial Seasonings brand. It sells pantry products under the Spectrum, Spectrum Essentials, MaraNatha, Imagine broths, Hain Pure Foods, Health Valley, and Hollywood brands. It sells its products through specialty and natural food distributors, supermarkets, natural food stores, mass-market and e-commerce retailers, food service channels and clubs, and drug and convenience stores. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey.

About Medifast

Medifast, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of weight loss, weight management, and healthy living products in the United States and the Asia-Pacific. It offers bars, puffs, cereal, crunchers, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serve, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes, and soups under the OPTAVIA, OPTAVIA ACTIVE, and Optimal Health brand names. The company markets its products through point-of-sale transactions, as well as through ecommerce platform. Medifast, Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.