Ascent Industries (NASDAQ:ACNT – Get Free Report) and Generac (NYSE:GNRC – Get Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
26.0% of Ascent Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.0% of Generac shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.5% of Ascent Industries shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Generac shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings for Ascent Industries and Generac, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Ascent Industries | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Generac | 0 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 2.72 |
Profitability
This table compares Ascent Industries and Generac’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Ascent Industries | 1.54% | -4.37% | -3.31% |
| Generac | 4.37% | 15.45% | 7.35% |
Risk and Volatility
Ascent Industries has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Generac has a beta of 1.93, indicating that its stock price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Ascent Industries and Generac”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Ascent Industries | $76.52 million | 1.65 | $870,000.00 | $0.13 | 107.38 |
| Generac | $4.21 billion | 3.90 | $159.55 million | $3.19 | 87.49 |
Generac has higher revenue and earnings than Ascent Industries. Generac is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ascent Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Generac beats Ascent Industries on 13 of the 15 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 Generac
Generac Holdings Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes various energy technology products and solution worldwide. The company offers residential automatic standby generators, automatic transfer switch, air-cooled engine residential standby generators, and liquid-cooled engine generators; Mobile Link, a remote monitoring system for home standby generators; residential storage solution, which consists of a system of batteries, an inverter, photovoltaic optimizers, power electronic controls, and other components; smart home solutions, such as smart thermostats and a suite of home monitoring products. It also provides smart home energy management devices and sensors for heating and cooling system; smart doorbell cameras; and portable and inverter generators; multiple portable battery solutions; manual transfer switches; outdoor power equipment, including trimmers, field and brush mowers, log splitters, stump grinders, chipper shredders, lawn and leaf vacuums, and pressure washers and water pumps; and battery-powered turf care products. In addition, the company offers commercial and industrial products comprising cleaner-burning natural gas fueled generators; light-commercial standby generators and related transfer switches; stationary generators; single-engine industrial generators; industrial standby generators; industrial transfer switches; light towers, mobile generators, commercial mobile pumps, heaters, dust-suppression equipment, and mobile energy storage systems; stationary energy storage system and related inverter products; and aftermarket service parts and product accessories. The company distributes its products through independent residential dealers, industrial distributors and dealers, national and regional retailers, e-commerce partners, electrical/HVAC/solar wholesalers, solar installers, catalogs, equipment rental companies, and other equipment distributors; and directly to end users. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
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