SSE (OTCMKTS:SSEZY) versus L’Oréal (OTCMKTS:LRLCY) Financial Survey

L’Oréal (OTCMKTS:LRLCY) and SSE (OTCMKTS:SSEZY) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Dividends

L’Oréal pays an annual dividend of $1.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. SSE pays an annual dividend of $0.93 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for L’Oréal and SSE, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
L’Oréal	1	2	2	0	2.20
SSE	0	0	1	0	3.00

Risk & Volatility

L’Oréal has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SSE has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.4% of L’Oréal shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.2% of SSE shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares L’Oréal and SSE’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
L’Oréal	N/A	N/A	N/A
SSE	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares L’Oréal and SSE”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
L’Oréal	$44.57 billion	4.91	$6.69 billion	N/A	N/A
SSE	$13.14 billion	2.20	$2.24 billion	N/A	N/A

L’Oréal has higher revenue and earnings than SSE.

Summary

L’Oréal beats SSE on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About L’Oréal

L'Oréal S.A., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cosmetic products for women and men worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Consumer Products, L'oréal Luxe, Professional Products, and Dermatological Beauty. It offers skincare, make-up, hair colourants, haircare, perfumes, and hygiene products. The company provides its products under the L'Oréal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline New York, NYX Professional Makeup, Stylenanda, Essie, Dark & Lovely, Mixa, Magic Mask, Niley, Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Armani, Kiehl's Since 1851, Helena Rubinstein, Biotherm, Shu Uemura, IT Cosmetics, Ralph Lauren Fragrance, Urban Decay, Mugler, Valentino, Viktor&Rolf, Azzaro, Prada, Cacharel, Maison Margela Fragrance, Diesel, Yue Sai, Atelier Colonge, Carita, Takami, Aesop, L'Oréal Professionnel Paris, Kérastase, Redken, Matrix, Pureology, Pulp Riot, La Roche-Posay, Vichy, CeraVe, SkinCeuticals, and Skinbetter Science brands. It sells its products through distribution channels, such as hair salons, local stores, e-commerce, travel retail, mass market retail, department store perfumeries, pharmacies, drug stores, medi-spas, and free-standing stores. L'Oréal S.A. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Clichy, France.

About SSE

SSE plc engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and supply of electricity. It generates electricity from water, gas, coal, oil, and multi fuel. The company distributes electricity to approximately 3.8 million homes and businesses across the north of the central belt of Scotland and central southern England; and owns, operates, and develops high voltage electricity transmission system in the north of Scotland and remote islands. It also produces, stores, distributes, and supplies gas. In addition, it engages in the electricity and utility contracting, telecommunications, energy trading, insurance, and property holding businesses, as well as provides maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Scottish and Southern Energy plc and changed its name to SSE plc in September 2011. SSE plc was incorporated in 1989 and is based in Perth, the United Kingdom.