Financial Comparison: YaSheng Group (OTCMKTS:HERB) vs. Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW)

YaSheng Group (OTCMKTS:HERB) and Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.

Volatility and Risk

YaSheng Group has a beta of 1.77, suggesting that its stock price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Calavo Growers has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares YaSheng Group and Calavo Growers”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
YaSheng Group	$24.15 million	0.20	$8.07 million	$0.02	1.54
Calavo Growers	$648.43 million	0.72	$19.80 million	$0.89	29.31

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.3% of Calavo Growers shares are held by institutional investors. 7.2% of Calavo Growers 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.

Profitability

This table compares YaSheng Group and Calavo Growers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
YaSheng Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Calavo Growers	2.61%	12.81%	8.77%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for YaSheng Group and Calavo Growers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
YaSheng Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
Calavo Growers	0	2	1	0	2.33

Calavo Growers has a consensus price target of $33.50, suggesting a potential upside of 28.40%. Given Calavo Growers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Calavo Growers is more favorable than YaSheng Group.

Summary

Calavo Growers beats YaSheng Group on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About YaSheng Group

YaSheng Group, through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets farming and sideline products; chemical materials and products; textiles; construction materials; and livestock and poultry products primarily in the People's Republic of China. It cultivates, processes, markets, and distributes various food and agro-byproducts. The company's products include cotton, corns, barley, wheat, flax, and alfalfa; vegetables comprising onions, potatoes, beet, and peas; fruits, including apples, pears, and apricots; specialty crops consisting of hops, wolfberries, cumin, hemp, and liquorices; seeds, such as black melon, sunflower, corn, hemp, and flax seeds; and eggs. It also provides construction materials, such as cement; and designs, develops, and markets new technologies related to agriculture and genetic biology. The company sells its products to food processors, supermarkets, and wholesale stores through distributors, as well as to direct customers. YaSheng Group exports its products. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Lanzhou, the People's Republic of China. As of December 31, 2015, YaSheng Group is a subsidiary of Gansu Yasheng Salt Chemical Industrial Group, Ltd.

About Calavo Growers

Calavo Growers, Inc. markets and distributes avocados, prepared avocados, and other perishable foods to retail grocery and foodservice customers, club stores, mass merchandisers, food distributors, and wholesale customers worldwide. It operates through Grown and Prepared segments. The Grown segment distributes tomatoes and papayas; and procures avocados grown in California, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. The Prepared segment is involved in the distribution of prepared avocado products, salsa, fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, fresh prepared entrees salads, wraps, sandwiches, parfaits, and fresh snacking products, as well as ready-to-heat entrees, other hot bars and various deli items, meals kit components, and salad kits. It offers its products under the Calavo brands and related logos; and Avo Fresco, Bueno, Avo Fresco, Bueno, Calavo Gold, Celebrate the Taste, El Dorado, Taste of Paradise, The First Name in Avocados, The Family of Fresh, ProRipeVIP, RIPE NOW!, Renaissance Food Group, Garden Highway Fresh Cut, Garden Highway, and Garden Highway Chef Essentials trademarks. Calavo Growers, Inc. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Santa Paula, California.