Indeed. If you only have a few artifacts to spare, I'd definitely go for the brown or polar bear instead.
Brown bear feeding effect lasts 12 hrs, but you can queue up a ton of troops before you collect them (even more if you use barracks + training grounds + merc camp). Feed the brown bear, then collect the troops and you have 12 hrs to maximize your troop production. (Just make sure you collect the troops before the timer runs out or you lose the benefits.) You can quickly replenish as many troops as you have supplies, windfalls & time boosters you care to spend on them.
Polar bear feeding effect lasts 5 days. Even an unevolved level 1 polar bear will shave a few hrs off the tournament cooldown allowing for a lot more flexibility. For anyone with a busy schedule, this lets you easily get 6 rounds in a tournament. For players with a high level Timewarp, it can potentially bring your cooldown to near zero.
By comparison, the panda feeding effect which requires feeding another pet (or feeding it twice) just to get some goods isn't so good. The only value might be if you happen to also have a brown bear, polar bear and fire phoenix that you're feeding all at once. In that case, you would feed the panda first, then get free goods from the other 3 feedings. But if you're rich enough to have all those other pets, you might not need the panda's goods anyway.