Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) versus Village Farms International (NASDAQ:VFF) Financial Survey

Village Farms International (NASDAQ:VFF) and Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Village Farms International has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flowers Foods has a beta of 0.43, indicating that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

12.1% of Village Farms International shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.5% of Flowers Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 13.2% of Village Farms International shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.2% of Flowers Foods shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Village Farms International and Flowers Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Village Farms International	9.85%	7.62%	5.48%
Flowers Foods	1.06%	14.91%	4.72%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Village Farms International and Flowers Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Village Farms International	0	2	0	0	2.00
Flowers Foods	3	4	0	0	1.57

Flowers Foods has a consensus target price of $6.80, suggesting a potential upside of 14.38%. Given Flowers Foods’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Flowers Foods is more favorable than Village Farms International.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Village Farms International and Flowers Foods”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Village Farms International	$230.57 million	1.43	$32.44 million	$0.17	15.88
Flowers Foods	$5.26 billion	0.24	$83.82 million	$0.26	22.87

Flowers Foods has higher revenue and earnings than Village Farms International. Village Farms International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Flowers Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Flowers Foods beats Village Farms International on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Village Farms International

Village Farms International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, and sells greenhouse-grown tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers in North America. It operates through four segments: Produce, Cannabis-Canada, Cannabis-U.S., and Energy. The company also produces and supplies cannabis products to other licensed providers and provincial governments in Canada and internationally; develops and sells cannabinoid-based health and wellness products, including ingestible, edibles, and topical applications; and produces power. It markets and distributes its products under the Village Farms brand name to retail supermarkets and fresh food distribution companies, as well as products produced under exclusive and non-exclusive arrangements from greenhouse supply partners. The company was formerly known as Village Farms Canada Inc. and changed its name to Village Farms International, Inc. in December 2009. Village Farms International, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Delta, Canada.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc. produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack items, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs. Freshley's, and Tastykake brand names. The company distributes its products through a direct-store-delivery distribution and a warehouse delivery system, as well as operates bakeries. Its customers include national and regional restaurants, institutions and foodservice distributors, and retail in-store bakeries; wholesale distributors; mass merchandisers, supermarkets, vending outlets, and convenience stores; quick-serve chains, food wholesalers, institutions, dollar stores, and vending companies; and public health care, military commissaries, and prisons, and other governmental institutions. The company was formerly known as Flowers Industries and changed its name to Flowers Foods, Inc. in 2001. Flowers Foods, Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia.