Reviewing urban-gro (NASDAQ:UGRO) & United Rentals (NYSE:URI)

United Rentals (NYSE:URI) and urban-gro (NASDAQ:UGRO) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

United Rentals has a beta of 1.8, meaning that its stock price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, urban-gro has a beta of -2.91, meaning that its stock price is 391% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares United Rentals and urban-gro”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Rentals	$16.10 billion	4.47	$2.49 billion	$41.64	27.74
urban-gro	$17.40 million	0.10	-$22.10 million	($27.87)	-0.05

United Rentals has higher revenue and earnings than urban-gro. urban-gro is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Rentals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares United Rentals and urban-gro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Rentals	15.67%	31.72%	9.47%
urban-gro	-82.11%	-118.44%	-33.76%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.3% of United Rentals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.6% of urban-gro shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Rentals shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.4% of urban-gro shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for United Rentals and urban-gro, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Rentals	1	0	16	1	2.94
urban-gro	1	0	0	0	1.00

United Rentals currently has a consensus target price of $1,246.19, indicating a potential upside of 7.87%. Given United Rentals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe United Rentals is more favorable than urban-gro.

Summary

United Rentals beats urban-gro on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Rentals

United Rentals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It operates in two segments, General Rentals and Specialty. The General Rentals segment rents general construction and industrial equipment includes backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms, such as boom and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment comprising pressure washers, water pumps, and power tools for construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities. The specialty segment rents specialty construction products, including trench safety equipment consists of trench shields, aluminum hydraulic shoring systems, slide rails, crossing plates, construction lasers, and line testing equipment for underground work; power and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning equipment, such as portable diesel generators, electrical distribution equipment, and temperature control equipment; fluid solutions equipment for fluid containment, transfer, and treatment; and mobile storage equipment and modular office space. This segment serves construction companies involved in infrastructure projects, and municipalities and industrial companies. It also sells aerial lifts, reach forklifts, telehandlers, compressors, and generators; construction consumables, tools, small equipment, and safety supplies; and parts for equipment that is owned by its customers, as well as provides repair and maintenance services. The company sells used equipment through its sales force, brokers, website, at auctions, and directly to manufacturers. The company operates in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. United Rentals, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

About urban-gro

urban-gro, Inc. engages in the designing, engineering, building, and integrating complex environmental equipment systems for indoor controlled environment agriculture (CEA) cultivation and retail facilities in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The company provides architectural design, engineering, and construction services comprising pre-construction, cultivation space programming (CSP), architectural and interior design, engineering, integrated cultivation design, owner's representative/construction management, and general contracting services; and maintenance, training, and support services. It also offers facility and equipment commissioning services; gro-care crop and asset protection services, including training services, equipment maintenance services, asset protection program, and an interactive online operating support system for gro-care and client document delivery and project management; and property condition assessment services. In addition, the company provides integrated equipment systems solutions, such as design, source, and integration of complex environmental equipment systems comprising heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions, as well as environmental control, fertigation, irrigation distribution, water treatment, and wastewater reclamation systems; and commercial horticulture lighting solutions, rolling and automated container benching systems, specialty fans, microbial mitigation, and odor reduction systems. Further, it offers value-Added Reselling (VAR) of cultivation equipment systems; and strategic vendor relationships with premier manufacturers. It primarily markets and sells its solutions to clients in the CEA that includes operators and facilitators in the cannabis and produce markets; and commercial sectors comprising food and beverage consumer packaged goods companies, healthcare, higher education, and hospitality. urban-gro, Inc. was founded in 2014 and is based in Lafayette, Colorado.