Critical Comparison: Westrock Coffee (NASDAQ:WEST) versus Ambev (NYSE:ABEV)

Westrock Coffee (NASDAQ:WEST) and Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Westrock Coffee and Ambev, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westrock Coffee	0	0	3	0	3.00
Ambev	0	4	3	0	2.43

Westrock Coffee currently has a consensus price target of $12.33, suggesting a potential upside of 23.46%. Ambev has a consensus price target of $3.20, suggesting a potential upside of 37.34%. Given Ambev’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ambev is more favorable than Westrock Coffee.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

45.1% of Westrock Coffee shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.1% of Ambev shares are held by institutional investors. 42.1% of Westrock Coffee shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Westrock Coffee has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ambev has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Westrock Coffee and Ambev’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westrock Coffee	$864.71 million	1.02	-$34.58 million	($0.56)	-17.84
Ambev	$79.74 billion	0.46	$2.90 billion	$0.18	12.94

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westrock Coffee	-4.05%	-41.02%	-2.83%
Ambev	18.19%	17.60%	11.25%

Summary

Ambev beats Westrock Coffee on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Ambev

Ambev S.A., through its subsidiaries, engages in the production, distribution, and sale of beer, draft beer, carbonated soft drinks, other non-alcoholic beverages, malt, and food products. It offers beer primarily under the Skol, Brahma, Antarctica, Brahva, Budweiser, Bud Light, Beck, Leffe and Hoegaarden, Bucanero, Cristal, Mayabe, Presidente, Presidente Light, Brahma Light, Bohemia, The One, Corona, Modelo Especial, Stella Artois, Quilmes Clásica, Paceña, Taquiña, Huari, Becker, Cusqueña, Michelob Ultra, Busch, Pilsen, Ouro Fino, Banks, Deputy, Patricia, Labatt Blue, Alexander Keith's, and Kokanee brands. The company also provides carbonated soft drinks, bottled water, isotonic beverages, energy drinks, coconut water, powdered and natural juices, and ready-to-drink teas under the Guaraná Antarctica, Gatorade, H2OH!, Lipton Iced Tea, Fusion, Do Bem, Pepsi-Cola, Canada Dry, Squirt, Red Rock, Red Bull, Seven Up, Nutrl, Bud Light Seltzer, Palm Bay, and Mike's brands. It offers its products through a network of third-party distributors and a direct distribution system. The company was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. Ambev S.A. operates as a subsidiary of Interbrew International B.V.