Sifting through countless of stocks in the Food Products industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in The Kraft Heinz Company or Darling Ingredients Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc.

The Kraft Heinz Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in North America and internationally. Its products include condiments, sauces, dressings, and spreads; cheese, frozen potato products, and other frozen meals; meal kits, frozen snacks, and pickles; dry packaged desserts, refrigerated ready to eat desserts, and other dessert toppings; ready to drink and powdered beverages, and liquid concentrates; American sliced and recipe cheeses; mainstream coffee, coffee pods, and premium coffee; and cold cuts, bacon, and hot dogs. It offers its products under the Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Heinz, Philadelphia, Lunchables, Velveeta, Ore-Ida, Capri Sun, Maxwell House, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, ABC, Master, Quero, Golden Circle, Wattie’s, Pudliszki, and Plasmon brands, as well as Bagel Bites, Claussen, A1, and Cool Whip. It sells its products through its own sales organizations, as well as through independent brokers, agents, and distributors to chain, wholesale, cooperative, and independent grocery accounts; convenience, value, and club stores; pharmacies and drug stores; mass merchants; foodservice distributors; institutions, including hotels, restaurants, bakeries, hospitals, health care facilities, and government agencies; and various e-commerce platforms and retailers. The company has a strategic partnership with the National Football League. The company was formerly known as H.J. Heinz Holding Corporation and changed its name to The Kraft Heinz Company in July 2015. The company was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Darling Ingredients Inc. develops, produces, and sells sustainable natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients in North America, Europe, China, South America, and internationally. The Feed Ingredients segment collects and processes animal by-products into non-food grade oils and protein meals; bakery residuals into cookie meal used in poultry and swine rations; used cooking oil into non-food grade fats; and porcine and bovine blood into blood plasma powder and hemoglobin. This segment is also involved in the processing of selected portions of slaughtered animals into pet food, as well as of cattle hides and hog skins; production of organic fertilizers; rearing and processing of black soldier fly larvae into specialty proteins and fats for use in animal feed and pet food; and grease trap collection services to food service establishments. Its Food Ingredients segment engages in the purchase and processing of beef and pork bone chips, beef hides, and pig and fish skins into collagen; collection and processing of porcine and bovine intestines into natural casings; extraction and processing of porcine mucosa into crude heparin; collection and refining of animal fat into food grade fat; and processing of bones to bone chips and bone ash. The Fuel Ingredients segment is involved in the conversion of organic sludge and food waste into biogas; collection and conversion of fallen stock and certain animal by-products into low-grade energy sources; and processing of manure into natural bio-phosphate. It also provides environmental services, including disposal services; and yellow grease, fuel feedstock, and agriculture-based biofuels. The company sells its products under the Rendac, Sonac, FASA, Ecoson, Rousselot, Gelnex, and CTH brands. The company was formerly known as Darling International Inc. and changed its name to Darling Ingredients Inc. in May 2014. Darling Ingredients Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.

Latest Food Products and The Kraft Heinz Company, Darling Ingredients Inc. Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, The Kraft Heinz Company had a $30.7 billion market capitalization, compared to the Food Products median of $1.7 million. The Kraft Heinz Company’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and down 7.51% in the past year.

Currently, The Kraft Heinz Company does not have a price-earnings ratio. The Kraft Heinz Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $24.9 billion with a -13.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -1.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.052 per share for the current fiscal year. The Kraft Heinz Company currently has a 6.2% dividend yield.

Currently, Darling Ingredients Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 18.3. Darling Ingredients Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $6.5 billion with a 9.1% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 16.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $6.420 per share for the current fiscal year. Darling Ingredients Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

How We Compare The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
The Kraft Heinz Company	KHC	B
Darling Ingredients Inc.	DAR	A

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

The Kraft Heinz Company has a Quality Score of 74, which is Strong. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a Quality Score of 84, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: Darling Ingredients Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Darling Ingredients Inc. has a better overall quality grade than The Kraft Heinz Company. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Darling Ingredients Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
The Kraft Heinz Company	KHC	C
Darling Ingredients Inc.	DAR	A

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

The Kraft Heinz Company has a Momentum Score of 49, which is Average. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a Momentum Score of 87, which is Very Strong.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Darling Ingredients Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Darling Ingredients Inc. is considered to have stronger momentum compared to The Kraft Heinz Company. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Darling Ingredients Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
The Kraft Heinz Company	KHC	C
Darling Ingredients Inc.	DAR	B

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

The Kraft Heinz Company has a Earnings Estimate Score of 56, which is Neutral. Darling Ingredients Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 64, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Darling Ingredients Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Darling Ingredients Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than The Kraft Heinz Company. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Darling Ingredients Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc. Grades

In addition to Quality, Estimate Revisions and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Growth.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, The Kraft Heinz Company or Darling Ingredients Inc. Stock?

Overall, The Kraft Heinz Company stock has a Momentum Score of 49, Estimate Revisions Score of 56 and Quality Score of 74.

Darling Ingredients Inc. stock has a Momentum Score of 87, Estimate Revisions Score of 64 and Quality Score of 84.

Comparing The Kraft Heinz Company and Darling Ingredients Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.