Analyzing Oatly Group (NASDAQ:OTLY) and Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ)

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) and Oatly Group (NASDAQ:OTLY) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Utz Brands and Oatly Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Utz Brands	0.29%	6.79%	3.53%
Oatly Group	-41.71%	-35.74%	-11.76%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.0% of Utz Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.2% of Oatly Group shares are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of Utz Brands shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Oatly Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Utz Brands	$1.43 billion	1.67	-$24.94 million	($0.25)	-67.56
Oatly Group	$783.35 million	0.63	-$416.87 million	($0.70)	-1.19

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Utz Brands and Oatly Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Utz Brands	0	3	8	0	2.73
Oatly Group	0	2	3	0	2.60

Utz Brands presently has a consensus price target of $20.36, indicating a potential upside of 20.57%. Oatly Group has a consensus price target of $1.45, indicating a potential upside of 73.86%. Given Oatly Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Oatly Group is more favorable than Utz Brands.

Volatility & Risk

Utz Brands has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oatly Group has a beta of 2.1, indicating that its share price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Utz Brands beats Oatly Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Oatly Group

Oatly Group AB, an oatmilk company, provides a range of plant-based dairy products made from oats in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. It offers Barista edition oatmilk, oatgurts, frozen desserts, ice-creams, and yogurts; cooking products, including cooking cream, in regular and organic, Crème Fraiche, whipping cream, vanilla custard, and spreads in a variety of flavors; and ready-to-go drinks. The company was formerly known as Havre Global AB and changed its name to Oatly Group AB in March 2021. Oatly Group AB was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Malmö, Sweden.