Head-To-Head Review: Ajinomoto (OTCMKTS:AJINY) vs. GLG Life Tech (OTCMKTS:GLGLF)

Ajinomoto (OTCMKTS:AJINY) and GLG Life Tech (OTCMKTS:GLGLF) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Ajinomoto has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GLG Life Tech has a beta of 2.1, suggesting that its stock price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ajinomoto and GLG Life Tech”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ajinomoto	$10.05 billion	2.72	$463.80 million	$0.83	33.69
GLG Life Tech	$7.35 million	0.00	$8.60 million	$0.22	N/A

Ajinomoto has higher revenue and earnings than GLG Life Tech. GLG Life Tech is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ajinomoto, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Ajinomoto and GLG Life Tech, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ajinomoto	0	2	0	1	2.67
GLG Life Tech	0	0	0	0	0.00

Given GLG Life Tech’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe GLG Life Tech is more favorable than Ajinomoto.

Profitability

This table compares Ajinomoto and GLG Life Tech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ajinomoto	N/A	N/A	N/A
GLG Life Tech	120.13%	N/A	-261.73%

Summary

Ajinomoto beats GLG Life Tech on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ajinomoto

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. engages in the seasonings and foods, frozen foods, and healthcare and other businesses in Japan and internationally. The Seasonings and Foods segment offers sauces and seasoning products under the AJI-NO-MOTO, HON-DASHI, Cook Do, Ajinomoto KK Consommé, Pure Select Mayonnaise, Ros Dee, Masako, Aji-ngon, Sazón, Sajiku, and CRISPY FRY names; and solutions and ingredients for foodservice and processed food manufacturers, processed foods, and restaurants, as well as industrial, retail, and other applications. This segment also provides instant noodles under the Knorr Cup Soup and YumYum names; coffee beverages under the Birdy and Blendy brands; powdered drink under the Birdy 3in1 name; MAXIM brand products; Chyotto Zeitakuna Kohiten brand products; and gift sets and office supplies comprising coffee vending machines, tea servers, etc. The Frozen Foods segment offers Chinese dumplings, cooked rice, noodles, desserts, shumai, processed chicken, and other products under the AJINOMOTO FRESH FROZEN, Bernardi, FRED’S, Golden Tiger, José Olé, LingLing, POSADA, and TAI PEI brands. The Healthcare and Other segment provides amino acids for applications in various industries, such as pharmaceuticals and foods; contract development and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical intermediates and active ingredients, aseptic fill finish services, etc.; personal care ingredients; and medical foods, crop services, etc. This segment also offers Ajinomoto Build-up Film, an interlayer insulating material for semiconductor packages; fundamental foods under the Glyna and Amino Aile names; sports nutrition supplements under the amino VITAL brand; and functional materials, such as activated carbon, release paper, etc. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About GLG Life Tech

GLG Life Tech Corporation researches for, develops, grows, refines, and produces natural sweeteners extracted from the stevia plant and monk fruit in Canada and internationally. It also offers P-Pro Plus, a pea protein product; REB M GOLD, a bioconverted Rebaudioside M and Rebaudioside D. sweetener; and natural ingredients. It serves in the food and beverage industry. The company was formerly known as GLG Life Tech Limited and changed its name to GLG Life Tech Corporation in March 2007. GLG Life Tech Corporation was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Richmond, Canada.