Financial Comparison: Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) versus Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX)

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) and Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Ingevity and Minerals Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ingevity	0	1	3	0	2.75
Minerals Technologies	0	0	1	0	3.00

Ingevity currently has a consensus price target of $52.75, indicating a potential upside of 21.85%. Minerals Technologies has a consensus price target of $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 44.96%. Given Minerals Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Minerals Technologies is more favorable than Ingevity.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.6% of Ingevity shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of Minerals Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Ingevity shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Minerals Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Ingevity has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Minerals Technologies has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ingevity and Minerals Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ingevity	-26.20%	63.76%	6.92%
Minerals Technologies	-1.14%	10.90%	5.52%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ingevity and Minerals Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ingevity	$1.35 billion	1.17	-$430.30 million	($9.74)	-4.44
Minerals Technologies	$2.12 billion	0.83	$167.10 million	($0.77)	-71.67

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

Summary

Minerals Technologies beats Ingevity on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ingevity

Ingevity Corporation manufactures and sells activated carbon products, derivative specialty chemicals, and engineered polymers in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. It operates through three segments: Performance Materials, Performance Chemicals, and Advanced Polymer Technologies. The Performance Materials segment engineers, manufactures, and sells hardwood-based and chemically activated carbon products for use in gasoline vapor emission control systems in cars, motorcycles, trucks, and boats. This segment also produces other activated carbon products for food, water, beverage, and chemical purification applications. The Performance Chemicals segment consists of road technologies and industrial specialties. This segment's products are used in pavement construction, pavement preservation, pavement reconstruction and recycling, road markings, agrochemical dispersants, paper chemicals, and other industrial uses. The Advanced Polymer Technologies segment produces caprolactone and caprolactone-based specialty polymers for use in coatings, resins, elastomers, adhesives, bioplastics, and medical devices. It serves automotive parts and components manufacturers through sales representatives and distributors. The company was formerly known as WestRock Company, Specialty Chemicals Business and changed its name to Ingevity Corporation in September 2015. Ingevity Corporation was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina.

About Minerals Technologies

Minerals Technologies Inc. develops, produces, and markets various mineral, mineral-based, and related systems and services. The company operates through two segments, Consumer & Specialties, and Engineered Solutions segments. The Consumer & Specialties segment offers household and personal care products, such as pet litter, personal care, fabric care, edible oil and other fluid purification, animal health, and agricultural products; and specialty additives products, including precipitated calcium carbonate and ground calcium carbonate products that are used in the paper, paperboard, and fiber based packaging industries, as well as automotive, construction, and table and food applications. This segment produces limestone and dolomitic limestone used in construction, automotive, and consumer markets for packaging applications. The Engineered Solutions segment provides high-temperature technology products consisting of custom-blended mineral and non-mineral products for casting auto parts, farm and construction equipment, oil and gas production equipment, power generation turbine castings, and rail car components; and environmental and infrastructure products comprising geosynthetic clay lining systems, vapor intrusion mitigation products, sub surface waterproofing systems, green roofs, wastewater remediation, drinking water purification technologies, and drilling products. In addition, this segment provides chromite products; gunnable monolithic refractory products and application systems; monolithic refractory materials and pre-cast refractory shapes; refractory shapes and linings; carbon composite and pyrolitic graphite; and filtration and well testing services. It markets its products primarily through its direct sales force, as well as regional distributors. The company serves in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Minerals Technologies Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in New York, New York.