Head to Head Survey: US Foods (NYSE:USFD) vs. Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT)

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) and US Foods (NYSE:USFD) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.8% of US Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 4.4% of Freshpet shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of US Foods shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Freshpet has a beta of 1.66, meaning that its share price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, US Foods has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Freshpet and US Foods”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Freshpet	$1.10 billion	2.62	$139.14 million	$2.57	22.88
US Foods	$39.42 billion	0.52	$676.00 million	$2.94	31.34

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Freshpet and US Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freshpet	1	8	9	0	2.44
US Foods	0	2	10	1	2.92

Freshpet currently has a consensus price target of $76.00, indicating a potential upside of 29.27%. US Foods has a consensus price target of $107.33, indicating a potential upside of 16.48%. Given Freshpet’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Freshpet is more favorable than US Foods.

Profitability

This table compares Freshpet and US Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freshpet	12.63%	6.93%	4.64%
US Foods	1.71%	18.74%	6.09%

Summary

US Foods beats Freshpet on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Freshpet

Freshpet, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and markets natural fresh meals and treats for dogs and cats in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It sells dog food, cat food, and dog treats under the Freshpet brand name; and Dognation and Dog Joy labels through various classes of retail, including grocery, mass, club, pet specialty, and natural, as well as online. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey.

About US Foods

US Foods Holding Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in marketing, sale, and distribution of fresh, frozen, and dry food and non-food products to foodservice customers in the United States. The company's customers include independently owned single and multi-unit restaurants, regional concepts, national restaurant chains, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels and motels, country clubs, government and military organizations, colleges and universities, and retail locations. The company was formerly known as USF Holding Corp. and changed its name to US Foods Holding Corp. in February 2016. US Foods Holding Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.