Financial Survey: Vita Coco (NASDAQ:COCO) versus Westrock Coffee (NASDAQ:WEST)

Vita Coco (NASDAQ:COCO) and Westrock Coffee (NASDAQ:WEST) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability and valuation.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Vita Coco and Westrock Coffee”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vita Coco	$500.02 million	3.21	$46.63 million	$0.92	30.77
Westrock Coffee	$864.71 million	0.64	-$34.58 million	($0.70)	-8.89

Vita Coco has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Westrock Coffee. Westrock Coffee is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vita Coco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Vita Coco and Westrock Coffee’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vita Coco	11.05%	26.42%	18.96%
Westrock Coffee	-5.37%	-18.20%	-1.93%

Risk and Volatility

Vita Coco has a beta of 0.22, meaning that its stock price is 78% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westrock Coffee has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Vita Coco and Westrock Coffee, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vita Coco	0	3	4	0	2.57
Westrock Coffee	0	0	4	0	3.00

Vita Coco presently has a consensus target price of $30.17, indicating a potential upside of 6.56%. Westrock Coffee has a consensus target price of $12.75, indicating a potential upside of 104.98%. Given Westrock Coffee’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Westrock Coffee is more favorable than Vita Coco.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.5% of Vita Coco shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.1% of Westrock Coffee shares are owned by institutional investors. 34.2% of Vita Coco shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 42.1% of Westrock Coffee shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Vita Coco beats Westrock Coffee on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vita Coco

The Vita Coco Company, Inc. develops, markets, and distributes coconut water products under the Vita Coco brand name in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers coconut oil and coconut milk; juice; Runa, a plant-based energy drink; packaged water under the Ever & Ever brand name; and PWR LIFT, a protein-infused fitness drink. It also provides private label coconut water and oil to retailers. It distributes its products through club, food, drug, mass, convenience, e-commerce, and foodservice channels. The company was formerly known as All Market Inc. and changed its name to The Vita Coco Company, Inc. in September 2021.The Vita Coco Company, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Westrock Coffee

Westrock Coffee Company, LLC operates as an integrated coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients solutions provider in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Beverage Solutions, and Sustainable Sourcing & Traceability (SS&T). The Beverage Solutions segment provides various packaging, including branded and private label coffee in bags, fractional packs, and single serve cups, as well as extract solutions for applications in cold brew and ready-to-drink offerings. The SS&T segment engages in delivery and settlement of forward sales contracts for green coffee. The company offers coffee sourcing, supply chain management, product development, roasting, packaging, and distribution services to the retail, food service and restaurant, convenience store and travel center, non-commercial account, CPG, and hospitality industries. Westrock Coffee Company, LLC was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas.