Head-To-Head Review: Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) vs. ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ)

ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ) and Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

18.5% of ARQ shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.1% of ARQ shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

ARQ has a beta of 2.08, indicating that its share price is 108% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for ARQ and Air Products and Chemicals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ARQ	1	1	1	0	2.00
Air Products and Chemicals	0	7	10	1	2.67

ARQ currently has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 157.73%. Air Products and Chemicals has a consensus target price of $336.62, indicating a potential upside of 21.10%. Given ARQ’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe ARQ is more favorable than Air Products and Chemicals.

Profitability

This table compares ARQ and Air Products and Chemicals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ARQ	-42.33%	-2.54%	-1.88%
Air Products and Chemicals	-0.38%	16.87%	7.18%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ARQ and Air Products and Chemicals”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ARQ	$120.34 million	0.70	-$52.61 million	($1.26)	-1.54
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.60 billion	4.91	-$394.50 million	($0.22)	-1,263.56

ARQ has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Air Products and Chemicals. Air Products and Chemicals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ARQ, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Air Products and Chemicals beats ARQ on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ARQ

Arq, Inc. is a holding company. It engages in the provision of environmental and emission control equipment to the power generation industry. The company operates through the following Segments: Refined Coal and Advanced Purification Technologies. The Refined Coal segment includes the Tinuum Group, Tinuum Services, and GWN Manager. The Advanced Purification Technologies segment refers to the sale of Activated Carbon Injection and Dry Sorbent Injection equipment systems, chemical sales, consulting services, and other sales related to the reduction of emissions in the coal-fired electric generation process and the electric utility industry. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, CO.

About Air Products and Chemicals

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, equipment, and related services in the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, India, and internationally. The company produces atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, and argon; process gases, such as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and syngas; and specialty gases for customers in various industries, including refining, chemical, manufacturing, electronics, energy production, medical, food, and metals. It also designs and manufactures equipment for air separation, hydrocarbon recovery and purification, natural gas liquefaction, and liquid helium and liquid hydrogen transport and storage. The company was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.