Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) and Ascent Industries (NASDAQ:ACNT) Head-To-Head Contrast

Ascent Industries (NASDAQ:ACNT) and Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) are both materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Ascent Industries and Scotts Miracle-Gro, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascent Industries	1	0	0	0	1.00
Scotts Miracle-Gro	0	3	3	0	2.50

Scotts Miracle-Gro has a consensus price target of $75.40, suggesting a potential upside of 42.63%. Given Scotts Miracle-Gro’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Scotts Miracle-Gro is more favorable than Ascent Industries.

Profitability

This table compares Ascent Industries and Scotts Miracle-Gro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ascent Industries	-5.31%	-2.72%	-2.07%
Scotts Miracle-Gro	2.19%	-81.90%	8.97%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

26.1% of Ascent Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.1% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.5% of Ascent Industries shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 24.4% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ascent Industries and Scotts Miracle-Gro”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascent Industries	$74.94 million	1.77	$870,000.00	($0.45)	-32.68
Scotts Miracle-Gro	$3.41 billion	0.90	$145.20 million	$1.15	45.97

Scotts Miracle-Gro has higher revenue and earnings than Ascent Industries. Ascent Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Scotts Miracle-Gro, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Ascent Industries has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Scotts Miracle-Gro has a beta of 1.83, suggesting that its stock price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Scotts Miracle-Gro beats Ascent Industries on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ascent Industries

Ascent Industries Co. an industrials company, produces and distributes stainless steel pipe and tube and specialty chemicals in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Tubular Products and Specialty Chemicals. It manufactures welded pipes and tubes, primarily from stainless steel, duplex, and nickel alloys; and ornamental stainless steel tubes for automotive, commercial transportation, marine, food services, construction, furniture, healthcare, and other industries. The company also produces defoamers, surfactants, and lubricating agents for end users, including companies that supply agrochemical paper, metal working, coatings, water treatment, paint, mining, oil and gas, and janitorial and other applications. In addition, it provides contract manufacturing services, as well as operates as a multi-purpose plant to process various difficult to handle materials, including flammable solvents, viscous liquids, and granular solids. The company was formerly known as Synalloy Corporation and changed its name to Ascent Industries Co. in August 2022. Ascent Industries Co. was founded in 1945 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and sells products for lawn, garden care, and indoor and hydroponic gardening in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Consumer, Hawthorne, and Other. The company provides lawn care products, comprising lawn fertilizers, grass seed products, spreaders, and other durable products, as well as lawn-related weed, pest, and disease control products; and gardening and landscape products, which include water-soluble and continuous-release plant foods, potting mixes, garden soils, mulches and ground cover products, plant-related pest and disease control products, organic garden products, and live goods and seeding solutions. It offers hydroponic products that help users to grow plants, flowers, and vegetables using little or no soil; lighting systems and components for use in hydroponic and indoor gardening applications; insect, rodent, and weed control products for home areas; and non-selective weed killer products. The company sells its products under the Scotts, Turf Builder, EZ Seed, PatchMaster, Thick'R Lawn, GrubEx, EdgeGuard, Handy Green II, Miracle-Gro, LiquaFeed, Shake N Feed, Hyponex, Earthgro, Nature Scapes, Ortho, Miracle-Gro Performance Organics, Miracle-Gro Organic Choice, Whitney Farms, EcoScraps, Mother Earth, Botanicare, General Hydroponics, Cyco, Gavita, Agrolux, HydroLogic Purification System, Gro Pro, AeroGarden, Titan, Tomcat, Ortho Weed B Gon, Roundup, Groundclear, and Alchemist brands. It serves home centers, mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs, large hardware chains, independent hardware stores, nurseries, garden centers, e-commerce platforms, and food and drug stores, as well as indoor gardening and hydroponic distributors, retailers, and growers. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Marysville, Ohio.