Critical Review: ARQ (ARQ) versus Its Rivals

ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ) is one of 295 publicly-traded companies in the “Chemicals” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare ARQ to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

18.5% of ARQ shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.5% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are held by institutional investors. 20.1% of ARQ shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.9% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

ARQ has a beta of 2.12, indicating that its share price is 112% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ARQ’s rivals have a beta of 0.93, indicating that their average share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ARQ and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ARQ	-38.79%	-0.85%	-0.61%
ARQ Competitors	-59.66%	0.26%	-1.43%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for ARQ and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ARQ	1	1	1	0	2.00
ARQ Competitors	3244	12202	14119	516	2.40

ARQ currently has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 108.33%. As a group, “Chemicals” companies have a potential upside of 8.86%. Given ARQ’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ARQ is more favorable than its rivals.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ARQ and its rivals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
ARQ	$120.34 million	-$52.61 million	-2.03
ARQ Competitors	$8.00 billion	$222.31 million	-1.28

ARQ’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than ARQ. ARQ is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

ARQ rivals beat ARQ on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

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.