Alta Equipment Group (NYSE:ALTG) and Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings and dividends.
Risk and Volatility
Alta Equipment Group has a beta of 2.03, suggesting that its share price is 103% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Century Aluminum has a beta of 2.56, suggesting that its share price is 156% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Alta Equipment Group and Century Aluminum's revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| Alta Equipment Group | N/A | N/A | $10,000.00 | ($0.56) | -22.39 |
| Century Aluminum | $1.84 billion | 0.70 | $-80,800,000.00 | ($1.35) | -10.59 |
Alta Equipment Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Century Aluminum. Alta Equipment Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Century Aluminum, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current recommendations for Alta Equipment Group and Century Aluminum, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| Alta Equipment Group | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.67 |
| Century Aluminum | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Alta Equipment Group currently has a consensus target price of $14.50, suggesting a potential upside of 18.08%. Century Aluminum has a consensus target price of $7.00, suggesting a potential downside of 53.33%. Given Alta Equipment Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Alta Equipment Group is more favorable than Century Aluminum.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
63.0% of Alta Equipment Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.3% of Century Aluminum shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Century Aluminum shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Alta Equipment Group and Century Aluminum's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| Alta Equipment Group | N/A | -15.71% | -2.61% |
| Century Aluminum | -5.61% | -14.02% | -6.03% |
Summary
Alta Equipment Group beats Century Aluminum on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
