Contrasting American Vanguard (NYSE:AVD) and Orion (NYSE:OEC)

American Vanguard (NYSE:AVD) and Orion (NYSE:OEC) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares American Vanguard and Orion”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Vanguard	$547.31 million	0.28	-$126.34 million	($4.47)	-1.21
Orion	$1.88 billion	0.32	$44.20 million	$0.27	39.61

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

Risk and Volatility

American Vanguard has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orion has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for American Vanguard and Orion, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Vanguard	0	0	1	0	3.00
Orion	1	1	1	0	2.00

American Vanguard currently has a consensus target price of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 122.35%. Orion has a consensus target price of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.19%. Given American Vanguard’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe American Vanguard is more favorable than Orion.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

79.0% of American Vanguard shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.3% of Orion shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.6% of American Vanguard shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Orion shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares American Vanguard and Orion’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Vanguard	-23.72%	-26.21%	-9.97%
Orion	0.82%	16.67%	4.00%

Summary

Orion beats American Vanguard on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Vanguard

American Vanguard Corporation, through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets specialty chemicals for agricultural, commercial, and consumer uses in the United States and internationally. It manufactures and formulates chemicals, including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, soil health, plant nutrition, molluscicides, growth regulators, soil fumigants, and biorationals in liquid, powder, and granular forms for crops, turf and ornamental plants, and human and animal health protection. The company also markets, sells, and distributes end-use chemical and biological products for crop applications; and distributes chemicals for turf and ornamental markets. It distributes its products through national distribution companies, and buying groups or co-operatives; and through sales offices, sales force executives, sales agents, and wholly owned distributors. American Vanguard Corporation was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.

About Orion

Orion S.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of carbon black products. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and conductive carbon black grades for batteries, polymers, and coatings. It also provides rubber carbon black products for applications in mechanical rubber goods, as well as in tires under the ECORAX brand name; and acetylene-based conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries and other applications. It operates in the United States, Brazil, rest of the Americas, Germany, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Turkey, France, Rest of EMEA, China, the Republic of Korea, and rest of Asia. The company was formerly known as Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. and changed its name to Orion S.A. in June 2023. Orion S.A. was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Senningerberg, Luxembourg.