Reviewing Flotek Industries (NYSE:FTK) & Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG)

Flotek Industries (NYSE:FTK) and Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Flotek Industries and Scotts Miracle-Gro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flotek Industries	8.81%	24.56%	12.01%
Scotts Miracle-Gro	3.16%	-77.42%	8.57%

Volatility and Risk

Flotek Industries has a beta of 1.55, indicating that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Scotts Miracle-Gro has a beta of 1.87, indicating that its share price is 87% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

10.9% of Flotek Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.1% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of Flotek Industries shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 24.4% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are owned 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Flotek Industries and Scotts Miracle-Gro”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flotek Industries	$237.26 million	3.40	$30.53 million	$0.99	22.49
Scotts Miracle-Gro	$3.48 billion	1.11	$145.20 million	$1.68	39.48

Scotts Miracle-Gro has higher revenue and earnings than Flotek Industries. Flotek Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Scotts Miracle-Gro, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Flotek Industries and Scotts Miracle-Gro, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flotek Industries	0	0	4	1	3.20
Scotts Miracle-Gro	0	2	5	0	2.71

Flotek Industries currently has a consensus target price of $34.67, suggesting a potential upside of 55.70%. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a consensus target price of $74.80, suggesting a potential upside of 12.77%. Given Flotek Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Flotek Industries is more favorable than Scotts Miracle-Gro.

Summary

Scotts Miracle-Gro beats Flotek Industries on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flotek Industries

Flotek Industries, Inc. operates as a technology-driven green chemistry and data company that serves customers across industrial and commercial markets in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Chemistry Technologies (CT) and Data Analytics (DA). The CT segment designs, develops, manufactures, packages, distributes, delivers, and markets green specialty chemicals that enhance the profitability of hydrocarbon producers, as well as green specialty chemistries, and logistics and technology services. This segment primarily serves integrated oil and gas, oilfield services, independent oil and gas, national and state-owned oil, geothermal energy, solar energy, and alternative energy companies. The DA segment designs, develops, produces, sells, and supports equipment and services that create and provide valuable information on the composition and properties of energy customers' hydrocarbon fluids. It sells its products directly through a mix of in-house sales professionals, as well as contractual agency agreements. Flotek Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and sells products for lawn, garden care, and indoor and hydroponic gardening in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Consumer, Hawthorne, and Other. The company provides lawn care products, comprising lawn fertilizers, grass seed products, spreaders, and other durable products, as well as lawn-related weed, pest, and disease control products; and gardening and landscape products, which include water-soluble and continuous-release plant foods, potting mixes, garden soils, mulches and ground cover products, plant-related pest and disease control products, organic garden products, and live goods and seeding solutions. It offers hydroponic products that help users to grow plants, flowers, and vegetables using little or no soil; lighting systems and components for use in hydroponic and indoor gardening applications; insect, rodent, and weed control products for home areas; and non-selective weed killer products. The company sells its products under the Scotts, Turf Builder, EZ Seed, PatchMaster, Thick'R Lawn, GrubEx, EdgeGuard, Handy Green II, Miracle-Gro, LiquaFeed, Shake N Feed, Hyponex, Earthgro, Nature Scapes, Ortho, Miracle-Gro Performance Organics, Miracle-Gro Organic Choice, Whitney Farms, EcoScraps, Mother Earth, Botanicare, General Hydroponics, Cyco, Gavita, Agrolux, HydroLogic Purification System, Gro Pro, AeroGarden, Titan, Tomcat, Ortho Weed B Gon, Roundup, Groundclear, and Alchemist brands. It serves home centers, mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs, large hardware chains, independent hardware stores, nurseries, garden centers, e-commerce platforms, and food and drug stores, as well as indoor gardening and hydroponic distributors, retailers, and growers. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Marysville, Ohio.