Analyzing Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) & 374Water (NASDAQ:SCWO)

Veralto (NYSE:VLTO) and 374Water (NASDAQ:SCWO) are both business services 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, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Veralto has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, 374Water has a beta of -0.29, indicating that its stock price is 129% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.3% of Veralto shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.2% of 374Water shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Veralto shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.3% of 374Water shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Veralto and 374Water’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Veralto	17.33%	34.63%	13.44%
374Water	-911.15%	-338.77%	-189.45%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Veralto and 374Water, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Veralto	0	6	5	0	2.45
374Water	1	0	0	0	1.00

Veralto currently has a consensus target price of $105.88, indicating a potential upside of 21.73%. Given Veralto’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Veralto is more favorable than 374Water.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Veralto and 374Water”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Veralto	$5.50 billion	3.88	$940.00 million	$3.87	22.47
374Water	$223,092.00	190.57	-$20.98 million	($0.86)	-2.83

Veralto has higher revenue and earnings than 374Water. 374Water is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Veralto, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Veralto beats 374Water on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Veralto

Veralto Corporation provides water analytics, water treatment, marking and coding, and packaging and color services worldwide. It operates through two segments, Water Quality (WQ) and Product Quality & Innovation (PQI). The WQ segment offers precision instrumentation and water treatment technologies to measure, analyze, and treat water in residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, research, and natural resource applications through the Hach, Trojan Technologies, and ChemTreat brands. This segment provides water solutions, including chemical reagents, services, and digital solutions. The PQI segment offers inline printing solutions for products and packaging with marking and coding systems; marking and coding for packaged goods and related consumables; design software and imaging systems for the creation of new packaging designs; color management solutions for printed packages and consumer and industrial products; color standard services for the design industry; and a software solution that provides digital asset management, marketing resource management, and product information management. This segment sells its products and services through the Videojet, Linx, Esko, X-Rite, and Pantone brands to regulated industries, including municipal utilities, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and industrials. The company was formerly known as DH EAS Holding Corp. and changed its name to Veralto Corporation in February 2023. Veralto Corporation was incorporated in 2022 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About 374Water

374Water Inc. provides a technology that transforms wet wastes into recoverable resources in the United States. The company transforms wet wastes, including sewage sludge, biosolids, food waste, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, and forever chemicals. It offers AirSCWO systems, a waste stream treatment system based on supercritical water oxidation that are used to treat various hazardous and non-hazardous waste streams. It serves Industrial, agricultural, defense, oil and gas, waste management, sanitation project, environmental remediation and compliance, and municipal markets. 374Water Inc. is based in Durham, North Carolina.