Reviewing urban-gro (NASDAQ:UGRO) and Lindsay (NYSE:LNN)

Lindsay (NYSE:LNN) and urban-gro (NASDAQ:UGRO) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Lindsay has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, urban-gro has a beta of 1.85, indicating that its stock price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Lindsay and urban-gro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lindsay	11.21%	15.09%	9.54%
urban-gro	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Lindsay and urban-gro”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lindsay	$607.07 million	2.49	$66.26 million	$6.96	19.97
urban-gro	$71.54 million	0.06	-$25.44 million	($1.12)	-0.32

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Lindsay and urban-gro, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lindsay	0	1	0	0	2.00
urban-gro	0	0	0	1	4.00

Lindsay presently has a consensus price target of $136.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.16%. Given Lindsay’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Lindsay is more favorable than urban-gro.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

89.9% of Lindsay shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.6% of urban-gro shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Lindsay shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.9% of urban-gro shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Lindsay beats urban-gro on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lindsay

Lindsay Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides water management and road infrastructure products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Irrigation and Infrastructure. The Irrigation segment manufactures and markets center pivot, lateral move irrigation systems, and irrigation controls under the Zimmatic brand; hose reel travelers under the Perrot brand; and chemical injection systems, variable rate irrigation systems, flow meters, weather stations, soil moisture sensors, and remote monitoring and control systems. It also offers repair and replacement parts for its irrigation systems and controls, and diameter steel tubing; global positioning system positioning and guidance, variable rate irrigation, wireless irrigation management, irrigation scheduling, and smartphone applications; and industrial Internet of Things technology solutions, data acquisition and management systems, and custom electronic equipment for applications under the Elecsys brand. The Infrastructure segment provides Road Zipper System comprised of T-shaped concrete and steel barriers, barrier transfer machine, and variable length barriers which are used for highway reconstruction, paving and resurfacing, road widening, median and shoulder construction, and repairs to tunnels and bridges. Additionally, it offers redirective and non-redirective crash cushions to enhance highway safety at locations such as toll booths, freeway off-ramps, medians and roadside barrier ends, bridge supports, utility poles, and other fixed roadway hazards; specialty barriers; preformed tape and road safety accessory products, as well as rail products, such as signals and lights, structures, foundations, junction boxes, and signs. Lindsay Corporation was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

About urban-gro

urban-gro, Inc. engages in the designing, engineering, building, and integrating complex environmental equipment systems for indoor controlled environment agriculture (CEA) cultivation and retail facilities in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The company provides architectural design, engineering, and construction services comprising pre-construction, cultivation space programming (CSP), architectural and interior design, engineering, integrated cultivation design, owner's representative/construction management, and general contracting services; and maintenance, training, and support services. It also offers facility and equipment commissioning services; gro-care crop and asset protection services, including training services, equipment maintenance services, asset protection program, and an interactive online operating support system for gro-care and client document delivery and project management; and property condition assessment services. In addition, the company provides integrated equipment systems solutions, such as design, source, and integration of complex environmental equipment systems comprising heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions, as well as environmental control, fertigation, irrigation distribution, water treatment, and wastewater reclamation systems; and commercial horticulture lighting solutions, rolling and automated container benching systems, specialty fans, microbial mitigation, and odor reduction systems. Further, it offers value-Added Reselling (VAR) of cultivation equipment systems; and strategic vendor relationships with premier manufacturers. It primarily markets and sells its solutions to clients in the CEA that includes operators and facilitators in the cannabis and produce markets; and commercial sectors comprising food and beverage consumer packaged goods companies, healthcare, higher education, and hospitality. urban-gro, Inc. was founded in 2014 and is based in Lafayette, Colorado.