Critical Analysis: Ingevity (NGVT) and Its Rivals

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) is one of 295 publicly-traded companies in the “Chemicals” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Ingevity to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.6% of Ingevity shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Ingevity shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.9% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ingevity and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ingevity	$1.17 billion	-$167.10 million	36.98
Ingevity Competitors	$8.01 billion	$230.87 million	10.02

Ingevity’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Ingevity. Ingevity is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Ingevity and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ingevity	5.28%	405.38%	11.41%
Ingevity Competitors	-59.15%	-0.44%	-1.38%

Risk & Volatility

Ingevity has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ingevity’s rivals have a beta of 0.93, suggesting that their average share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Ingevity and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ingevity	0	3	2	0	2.40
Ingevity Competitors	3248	12218	14137	519	2.40

Ingevity currently has a consensus price target of $80.00, suggesting a potential upside of 27.25%. As a group, “Chemicals” companies have a potential upside of 8.10%. Given Ingevity’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ingevity is more favorable than its rivals.

Summary

Ingevity beats its rivals on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

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.