Financial Comparison: Westrock Coffee (NASDAQ:WEST) versus Jones Soda (OTCMKTS:JSDA)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Westrock Coffee and Jones Soda, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westrock Coffee	0	0	4	0	3.00
Jones Soda	0	0	0	0	0.00

Westrock Coffee presently has a consensus price target of $10.50, suggesting a potential upside of 77.07%. Given Westrock Coffee’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Westrock Coffee is more favorable than Jones Soda.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

45.1% of Westrock Coffee shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.1% of Westrock Coffee shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.0% of Jones Soda shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westrock Coffee	$850.73 million	0.66	-$34.58 million	($0.89)	-6.66
Jones Soda	$16.67 million	1.16	-$4.85 million	($0.09)	-2.11

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

Risk & Volatility

Westrock Coffee has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Jones Soda has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westrock Coffee	-9.05%	-20.72%	-2.01%
Jones Soda	-34.64%	-104.47%	-60.63%

Summary

Westrock Coffee beats Jones Soda on 9 of the 14 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 Jones Soda

Jones Soda Co., together with its subsidiaries, engages in development, production, marketing, and distribution of beverages primarily in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company provides craft sodas under the Jones Soda and Lemoncocco brands; and tetrahydrocannabinol infused cannabis products under the Mary Jones brand name. It also offers co-brand and private label products; fountain products, including cane sugar cola and sugar free cola, cane sugar sweetened ginger ale, orange and cream, root beer, and lemon lime; food products; and other products comprising teas, lemonade, vitamin enhanced waters, hydration beverages, and naturally flavored sparkling waters. The company sells and distributes its products through a network of independent distributors, and directly to national and regional retail accounts, as well as in grocery stores, convenience and gas stores, restaurants, delicatessens, sandwich shops, and burger restaurants; sells various products online, including soda with customized labels, wearables, candy, and other items; and licenses its trademarks for use on products sold by other manufacturers. Jones Soda Co. was founded in 1986 and is based in Seattle, Washington.