Comparing Dole (NYSE:DOLE) and Scheid Vineyards (OTCMKTS:SVIN)

Scheid Vineyards (OTCMKTS:SVIN) and Dole (NYSE:DOLE) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Scheid Vineyards and Dole, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scheid Vineyards	0	0	0	0	0.00
Dole	0	4	0	0	2.00

Dole has a consensus price target of $15.50, suggesting a potential upside of 9.42%. Given Dole’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Dole is more favorable than Scheid Vineyards.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Scheid Vineyards and Dole”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Scheid Vineyards	$52.47 million	0.01	-$25.25 million	($27.53)	-0.03
Dole	$9.17 billion	0.15	$51.32 million	$0.45	31.48

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

Profitability

This table compares Scheid Vineyards and Dole’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scheid Vineyards	-48.12%	N/A	N/A
Dole	0.46%	7.63%	2.51%

Volatility & Risk

Scheid Vineyards has a beta of -0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 138% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dole has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Dole beats Scheid Vineyards on 11 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Scheid Vineyards

Scheid Vineyards Inc. manufactures and sells wine in the United States. The company operates vineyards in Monterey and San Benito counties of California. It offers red, white, reserve, dessert wines, as well as accessories, such as wine glass. The company was incorporated in 1971 and is based in Salinas, California.

About Dole

Dole Food Company, Inc. (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods. The fresh fruit segment contains operating divisions that produce and market fresh fruit to wholesale, retail and institutional customers worldwide. The fresh vegetables segment produces and markets fresh-packed and value-added vegetables and salads to wholesale, retail and institutional customers, primarily in North America and Europe. The packaged foods segment contains several operating divisions that produce and market packaged foods, including fruit, juices, frozen fruit and healthy snack foods. In November 2013, Dole Food Company, Inc announced that an investor group acquired the remaining 60.43% interest in the Company.