Head-To-Head Contrast: Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) vs. Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG)

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

74.1% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by institutional investors. 24.4% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Scotts Miracle-Gro has a beta of 1.83, suggesting that its share price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Scotts Miracle-Gro and Air Products and Chemicals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scotts Miracle-Gro	0	4	3	0	2.43
Air Products and Chemicals	0	7	10	1	2.67

Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus price target of $75.40, indicating a potential upside of 34.82%. Air Products and Chemicals has a consensus price target of $336.53, indicating a potential upside of 16.71%. Given Scotts Miracle-Gro’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Scotts Miracle-Gro is more favorable than Air Products and Chemicals.

Dividends

Scotts Miracle-Gro pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Air Products and Chemicals pays an annual dividend of $7.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Scotts Miracle-Gro pays out 229.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Air Products and Chemicals pays out -3,290.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Air Products and Chemicals has raised its dividend for 43 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Scotts Miracle-Gro and Air Products and Chemicals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scotts Miracle-Gro	2.19%	-81.90%	8.97%
Air Products and Chemicals	-0.38%	16.87%	7.18%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Scotts Miracle-Gro and Air Products and Chemicals”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Scotts Miracle-Gro	$3.41 billion	0.95	$145.20 million	$1.15	48.63
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.04 billion	5.33	-$394.50 million	($0.22)	-1,310.72

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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 Scotts Miracle-Gro, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

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.

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.