Financial Survey: Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) versus Pyxus International (OTCMKTS:PYYX)

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) and Pyxus International (OTCMKTS:PYYX) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Scotts Miracle-Gro and Pyxus International, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scotts Miracle-Gro	0	4	4	0	2.50
Pyxus International	0	0	0	0	0.00

Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus price target of $73.50, suggesting a potential upside of 29.90%. Given Scotts Miracle-Gro’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Scotts Miracle-Gro is more favorable than Pyxus International.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Scotts Miracle-Gro and Pyxus International”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	0.96	$145.20 million	$1.79	31.61
Pyxus International	$119.15 million	0.52	$15.17 million	($0.20)	-12.50

Scotts Miracle-Gro has higher revenue and earnings than Pyxus International. Pyxus International 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.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

74.1% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are held by institutional investors. 24.4% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.0% of Pyxus International shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scotts Miracle-Gro	3.27%	-79.61%	8.53%
Pyxus International	-0.22%	-3.09%	-0.27%

Risk and Volatility

Scotts Miracle-Gro has a beta of 1.88, indicating that its share price is 88% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pyxus International has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Scotts Miracle-Gro beats Pyxus International on 13 of the 14 factors compared between 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 Pyxus International

Pyxus International, Inc., an agricultural company, offers value-added products and services to businesses and customers. It also involved in the purchasing, processing, packing, storing, and shipping tobacco to manufacturers of cigarettes and other consumer tobacco products. The company offers its products in China, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Russia, Northern Africa, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Old Holdco, Inc. Pyxus International, Inc. was founded in 1873 and is headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina.