HNI (NYSE:HNI) vs. Quest Resource (NASDAQ:QRHC) Financial Review

HNI (NYSE:HNI) and Quest Resource (NASDAQ:QRHC) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for HNI and Quest Resource, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HNI	0	1	1	0	2.50
Quest Resource	1	2	0	0	1.67

HNI currently has a consensus target price of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.72%. Quest Resource has a consensus target price of $2.25, indicating a potential upside of 78.57%. Given Quest Resource’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Quest Resource is more favorable than HNI.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares HNI and Quest Resource”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HNI	$2.84 billion	1.22	$54.20 million	$0.09	540.11
Quest Resource	$250.22 million	0.11	-$15.38 million	($0.34)	-3.71

HNI has higher revenue and earnings than Quest Resource. Quest Resource is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HNI, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.3% of HNI shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.2% of Quest Resource shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of HNI shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 19.6% of Quest Resource shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

HNI has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Quest Resource has a beta of 0.18, suggesting that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares HNI and Quest Resource’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HNI	0.10%	13.66%	5.23%
Quest Resource	-3.00%	-12.30%	-3.39%

Summary

HNI beats Quest Resource on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HNI

HNI Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, sale, and marketing of workplace furnishings and residential building products primarily in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Workplace Furnishings and Residential Building Products. The Workplace Furnishings segment offers a range of commercial and home office furniture, including panel-based and freestanding furniture systems, seating, storage, benching, tables, architectural products, and ancillary and hospitality products, as well as social collaborative items under the HON, Allsteel, Beyond, Gunlocke, HBF, HBF Textiles, HNI India, Kimball, National, Etc., Interwoven, David Edward, Kimball Hospitality, and D'style brands. This segment sells its products through independent office products dealers, wholesalers, office product distributors, e-commerce focused resellers, and wholesalers, as well as directly to end-user customers and governments. The Residential Building Products segment provides various gas, wood, electric, and pellet-fueled prefabricated fireplaces; and inserts, hearth stoves, facings, outdoor fire pits and fire tables, and accessories. This segment sells its products primarily for home use under the Heatilator, Heat & Glo, Majestic, Monessen, Quadra-Fire, Harman, Vermont Castings, PelPro, Stellar, SimpliFire, The Outdoor GreatRoom Company, and Forge & Flame brand names through independent dealers and distributors, and corporation-owned distribution and retail outlets. The company was incorporated in 1944 and is headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa.

About Quest Resource

Quest Resource Holding Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides solutions for the reuse, recycling, and disposal of various waste streams and recyclables in the United States. The company provides disposal and recycling services for motor oil and automotive lubricants, oil filters, scrap tires, oily water, goods destruction, food waste, meat renderings, cooking oil and grease trap waste, plastics, cardboard, metal, glass, mixed paper, construction debris, as well as a large variety of regulated and non-regulated solid, liquid, and gas wastes. It offers antifreeze and windshield washer fluid, dumpster and compacting equipment, and other minor ancillary services. In addition, the company offers landfill diversion services. Its services focus on the waste streams and recyclables from big box, grocers, and other retailers; automotive maintenance, quick lube, dealerships, and collision repair; transportation, logistics, and internal fleet operators; manufacturing plants; multi-family and commercial properties; restaurant chains and food operations; and construction and demolition projects. The company markets its services to automotive, manufacturing, hospitality and retail, construction and demolition, and commercial and multi-family property management industries through direct sales force and strategic partnerships. The company was formerly known as Infinity Resources Holdings Corp. and changed its name to Quest Resource Holding Corporation in October 2013. Quest Resource Holding Corporation is headquartered in The Colony, Texas.