Financial Analysis: Nature’s Sunshine Products (NATR) versus Its Rivals

Nature’s Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) is one of 55 publicly-traded companies in the “Personal Care Products” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Nature’s Sunshine Products to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Nature’s Sunshine Products and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nature’s Sunshine Products	3.68%	12.88%	8.17%
Nature’s Sunshine Products Competitors	-5.60%	-65.80%	-0.33%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Nature’s Sunshine Products and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nature’s Sunshine Products	0	1	2	0	2.67
Nature’s Sunshine Products Competitors	896	2917	3642	227	2.42

Nature’s Sunshine Products currently has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 107.99%. As a group, “Personal Care Products” companies have a potential upside of 2.73%. Given Nature’s Sunshine Products’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Nature’s Sunshine Products is more favorable than its competitors.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

79.4% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.9% of shares of all “Personal Care Products” companies are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.7% of shares of all “Personal Care Products” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Nature’s Sunshine Products has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nature’s Sunshine Products’ competitors have a beta of 0.80, indicating that their average share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nature’s Sunshine Products and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nature’s Sunshine Products	$480.14 million	$19.52 million	11.90
Nature’s Sunshine Products Competitors	$7.92 billion	$1.11 billion	11.37

Nature’s Sunshine Products’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Nature’s Sunshine Products. Nature’s Sunshine Products is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Nature’s Sunshine Products beats its competitors on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

Nature’s Sunshine Products Company Profile

Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc., a natural health and wellness company, manufactures and sells nutritional and personal care products in Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and internationally. It offers general health products related to blood sugar support, bone health, cellular health, cognitive function, joint health, mood, sexual health, sleep, sports and energy, and vision. The company also provides immunity, cardiovascular, and digestive products; and personal care products, such as oils and lotions, aloe vera gels, herbal shampoos, herbal skin treatment, toothpaste, and skin cleansers, as well as weight management products. It offers its products under the Nature’s Sunshine and Synergy WorldWide brands through a sales force of independent consultants. Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Lehi, Utah.