Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) vs. Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Head to Head Survey

Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) and Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Marzetti and Utz Brands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marzetti	8.77%	18.86%	14.69%
Utz Brands	0.39%	8.12%	4.02%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

66.4% of Marzetti shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.0% of Utz Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 29.1% of Marzetti shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.3% of Utz Brands shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Marzetti pays an annual dividend of $4.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Utz Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Marzetti pays out 64.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Utz Brands pays out 357.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Marzetti has raised its dividend for 62 consecutive years and Utz Brands has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Marzetti is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Marzetti has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Utz Brands has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Marzetti and Utz Brands, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marzetti	0	3	1	0	2.25
Utz Brands	1	2	5	0	2.50

Marzetti currently has a consensus price target of $191.33, suggesting a potential upside of 15.37%. Utz Brands has a consensus price target of $14.93, suggesting a potential upside of 42.52%. Given Utz Brands’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Utz Brands is more favorable than Marzetti.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Marzetti and Utz Brands”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marzetti	$1.91 billion	2.39	$167.35 million	$6.16	26.92
Utz Brands	$1.44 billion	1.04	$15.97 million	$0.07	149.64

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

Summary

Marzetti beats Utz Brands on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Marzetti

Lancaster Colony Corporation engages in the manufacturing and marketing of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Retail and Foodservice. The company offers frozen garlic bread under the New York BRAND Bakery; frozen Parkerhouse style yeast and dinner rolls under the Sister Schubert's brand; salad dressings under the Marzetti, Simply Dressed, Cardini's, and Girard's brands; vegetable and fruit dips under the Marzetti brand; croutons and salad toppings under the New York BRAND Bakery, Chatham Village, and Marzetti brands; and frozen pasta under the Marzetti Frozen Pasta brand. It also manufactures and sells other products to brand license agreements, including Olive Garden dressings, Buffalo Wild Wings sauces, and Chick-fil-A sauces. The company sells its products through sales personnel, food brokers, and distributors to retailers and restaurants. Lancaster Colony Corporation was incorporated in 1961 and is based in Westerville, Ohio.

About Utz Brands

Utz Brands, Inc. engages in manufacture, marketing, and distribution of snack foods. It offers a range of salty snacks, including salty snacks, including potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, pork skins, veggie snacks, pub/party mixes, tortilla chips, salsa and dips, ready-to-eat popcorn, and other snacks under the Utz, Zapp’s, ON THE BORDER, Golden Flake, Boulder Canyon, Hawaiian, TORTIYAHS!, etc. The company sells its products to wholesale and other distributors, grocery stores, convenience and drug stores, discount stores, mass merchandisers, membership club stores, hard discounters, and specialty and e-commerce retailers. Utz Brands, Inc. was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Hanover, Pennsylvania.