Critical Contrast: BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO) vs. Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT)

BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO) and Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) are both small-cap construction companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of BioLargo shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ingevity shares are held by institutional investors. 20.3% of BioLargo shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Ingevity shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for BioLargo and Ingevity, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BioLargo	0	0	0	0	N/A
Ingevity	0	3	3	0	2.50

Ingevity has a consensus price target of $51.00, indicating a potential upside of 61.44%. Given Ingevity’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ingevity is more favorable than BioLargo.

Profitability

This table compares BioLargo and Ingevity’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BioLargo	-16.53%	-58.35%	-32.12%
Ingevity	-27.85%	19.59%	4.22%

Risk & Volatility

BioLargo has a beta of 0.18, suggesting that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ingevity has a beta of 1.62, suggesting that its stock price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares BioLargo and Ingevity”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BioLargo	$12.23 million	5.72	-$3.50 million	($0.02)	-11.63
Ingevity	$1.55 billion	0.74	-$112.98 million	($3.11)	-10.16

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

Summary

Ingevity beats BioLargo on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BioLargo

BioLargo, Inc. invents, develops, and commercializes various platform technologies. Its technologies solve challenging environmental problems comprising per – and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) water contamination, advanced water and wastewater treatment, industrial odor and volatile organic compounds control, air quality control, infection control, and myriad environmental remediation. The company provides full-service environmental engineering services. BioLargo, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Westminster, California.

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.