Analyzing Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) & Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN)

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) and Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Ingevity and Aspen Aerogels, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ingevity	0	3	2	0	2.40
Aspen Aerogels	2	1	4	0	2.29

Ingevity presently has a consensus target price of $80.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.36%. Aspen Aerogels has a consensus target price of $5.94, suggesting a potential upside of 20.44%. Given Aspen Aerogels’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Aspen Aerogels is more favorable than Ingevity.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.6% of Ingevity shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.6% of Aspen Aerogels shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Ingevity shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Aspen Aerogels shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Ingevity and Aspen Aerogels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ingevity	4.65%	284.70%	10.82%
Aspen Aerogels	-62.45%	-31.12%	-17.33%

Risk & Volatility

Ingevity has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aspen Aerogels has a beta of 2.99, suggesting that its stock price is 199% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ingevity and Aspen Aerogels”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ingevity	$1.17 billion	2.04	-$167.10 million	$1.47	47.18
Aspen Aerogels	$271.10 million	1.51	-$389.55 million	($1.53)	-3.22

Ingevity has higher revenue and earnings than Aspen Aerogels. Aspen Aerogels 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 Aspen Aerogels on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Aspen Aerogels

Aspen Aerogels, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aerogel insulation products primarily for use in the energy infrastructure and sustainable insulation materials markets in the United States, Asia, Canada, Europe, and Latin America. It operates in two segments, Energy Industrial and Thermal Barrier. The company offers PyroThin thermal barriers for use in lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles and energy storage industries; Pyrogel XTE that reduces the risk of corrosion under insulation in energy infrastructure operating systems; and Pyrogel HPS for applications within the power generation market. It also offers Pyrogel XTF to provide protection against fire; Cryogel Z for sub-ambient and cryogenic applications in the energy infrastructure market; Spaceloft Subsea for use in pipe-in-pipe applications in offshore oil production; and Cryogel X201, which is used in designing cold systems, such as refrigerated appliances, cold storage equipment, and aerospace systems. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Northborough, Massachusetts.