Reviewing Kraft Heinz (KHC) & Its Competitors

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) is one of 328 public companies in the “Food Products” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Kraft Heinz to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Kraft Heinz has a beta of 0.12, indicating that its stock price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kraft Heinz’s peers have a beta of -3.83, indicating that their average stock price is 483% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Kraft Heinz and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kraft Heinz	5	10	1	0	1.75
Kraft Heinz Competitors	2446	8292	8369	403	2.34

Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus price target of $23.87, indicating a potential downside of 5.61%. As a group, “Food Products” companies have a potential upside of 16.84%. Given Kraft Heinz’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Kraft Heinz has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Dividends

Kraft Heinz pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Kraft Heinz pays out -55.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Food Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 12.2% and pay out 29.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Kraft Heinz and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kraft Heinz	$24.90 billion	-$5.85 billion	-8.84
Kraft Heinz Competitors	$15.44 billion	$700.97 million	-2,414.11

Kraft Heinz has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. Kraft Heinz is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.2% of Kraft Heinz shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Kraft Heinz shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.8% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Kraft Heinz and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kraft Heinz	-13.64%	7.10%	3.60%
Kraft Heinz Competitors	-13.58%	-142.63%	-2.62%

Summary

Kraft Heinz peers beat Kraft Heinz on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Kraft Heinz Company Profile

The Kraft Heinz Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in North America and internationally. Its products include condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy products, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee, and other grocery products under the Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Heinz, Philadelphia, Lunchables, Velveeta, Ore-Ida, Maxwell House, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Heinz, ABC, Master, Quero, Kraft, Golden Circle, Wattie's, Pudliszki, and Plasmon brands. It sells its products through its own sales organizations, as well as through independent brokers, agents, and distributors to chain, wholesale, cooperative, and independent grocery accounts; convenience, value, and club stores; pharmacies and drug stores; mass merchants; foodservice distributors; institutions, including hotels, restaurants, bakeries, hospitals, health care facilities, and government agencies; and online through various e-commerce platforms and retailers. The company was formerly known as H.J. Heinz Holding Corporation and changed its name to The Kraft Heinz Company in July 2015. The Kraft Heinz Company was founded in 1869 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.