Sims Metal Management (OTCMKTS:SMSMY) & ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ) Head to Head Survey

ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ) and Sims Metal Management (OTCMKTS:SMSMY) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

18.5% of ARQ shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.9% of ARQ shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

ARQ has a beta of 1.92, indicating that its stock price is 92% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sims Metal Management has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for ARQ and Sims Metal Management, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ARQ	1	0	3	1	2.80
Sims Metal Management	1	0	0	0	1.00

ARQ currently has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 52.09%. Given ARQ’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe ARQ is more favorable than Sims Metal Management.

Profitability

This table compares ARQ and Sims Metal Management’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ARQ	-1.40%	-0.07%	-0.05%
Sims Metal Management	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ARQ and Sims Metal Management”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ARQ	$117.65 million	2.39	-$5.11 million	($0.04)	-164.38
Sims Metal Management	$4.85 billion	0.41	-$12.30 million	N/A	N/A

ARQ has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Sims Metal Management.

Summary

ARQ beats Sims Metal Management on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ARQ

Arq, Inc. is a holding company. It engages in the provision of environmental and emission control equipment to the power generation industry. The company operates through the following Segments: Refined Coal and Advanced Purification Technologies. The Refined Coal segment includes the Tinuum Group, Tinuum Services, and GWN Manager. The Advanced Purification Technologies segment refers to the sale of Activated Carbon Injection and Dry Sorbent Injection equipment systems, chemical sales, consulting services, and other sales related to the reduction of emissions in the coal-fired electric generation process and the electric utility industry. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, CO.

About Sims Metal Management

Sims Limited engages in buying, processing, and selling ferrous and non-ferrous recycled metals in Australia, Bangladesh, China, Turkey, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through six segments: North America Metals, Investment in SA Recycling, Australia/New Zealand Metals, UK Metals, Global Trading, and Sims Lifecycle Services. It is involved in the collection, processing, and trading of iron and steel secondary raw materials; and other metal alloys and residues, principally aluminum, lead, copper, zinc, and nickel bearing materials. The company also engages in the provision of environmentally responsible solutions for the disposal of post-consumer electronic products, such as information technology assets recycled for commercial customers; and environmentally responsible recycling of negative value materials, including electronic equipment. In addition, it provides secondary processing and other services comprising recycling of municipal curbside materials, stevedoring, and other sources of service. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Mascot, Australia.