ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ) vs. Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Financial Contrast

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

Risk & Volatility

Linde has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ARQ has a beta of 2.08, meaning that its share price is 108% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Linde and ARQ”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Linde	$33.99 billion	6.59	$6.90 billion	$15.48	31.41
ARQ	$120.34 million	0.74	-$52.61 million	($1.26)	-1.62

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

Profitability

This table compares Linde and ARQ’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Linde	20.43%	20.09%	9.28%
ARQ	-42.33%	-2.54%	-1.88%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.8% of Linde shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.5% of ARQ shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Linde shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.1% of ARQ 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Linde and ARQ, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Linde	0	2	19	2	3.00
ARQ	1	1	1	0	2.00

Linde currently has a consensus price target of $546.80, indicating a potential upside of 12.47%. ARQ has a consensus price target of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 144.50%. Given ARQ’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe ARQ is more favorable than Linde.

Summary

Linde beats ARQ on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene. The company also designs and constructs turnkey process plants for third-party customers, as well as for the gas businesses in various locations, such as air separation, hydrogen, synthesis, olefin, and natural gas plants. It serves a range of industries, including healthcare, chemicals and energy, manufacturing, metals and mining, food and beverage, and electronics. The company was founded in 1879 and is based in Woking, the United Kingdom.

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.