Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE – Get Free Report) and Westaim (OTCMKTS:WEDXF – Get Free Report) 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 earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Green Plains and Westaim, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Green Plains | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Westaim | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Green Plains presently has a consensus price target of $7.80, suggesting a potential downside of 12.65%. Given Green Plains’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Green Plains is more favorable than Westaim.
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Green Plains | $2.46 billion | 0.24 | -$82.50 million | ($2.40) | -3.72 |
| Westaim | $17.04 million | 40.97 | -$16.18 million | ($1.40) | -14.86 |
Westaim has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Green Plains. Westaim is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Green Plains, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Green Plains and Westaim’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Green Plains | -6.34% | -13.65% | -6.72% |
| Westaim | -118.02% | -6.03% | -5.73% |
Volatility & Risk
Green Plains has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westaim has a beta of 0.23, indicating that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Green Plains beats Westaim on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Green Plains
Green Plains Inc. produces low-carbon fuels in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Ethanol Production, Agribusiness and Energy Services, and Partnership. The Ethanol Production segment produces ethanol, distillers grains, and ultra-high protein and renewable corn oil. The Agribusiness and Energy Services segment engages in the grain procurement, handling and storage, commodity marketing business; and trading of ethanol, distiller grains, renewable corn oil, grain, natural gas, and other commodities in various markets. This segment also provides grain drying and storage services to grain producers. The Partnership segment offers fuel storage and transportation services. It operates 24 ethanol storage facilities; two fuel terminal facilities; and a fleet of approximately 2,180 leased railcars. The company was formerly known as Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. and changed its name to Green Plains Inc. in May 2014. Green Plains Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
About Westaim
The Westaim Corporation is a private equity firm specializing in direct and indirect investments through acquisitions, joint ventures, secondary investments both direct and indirect, fund of fund investments, and other arrangements. For direct investments, the firm invests in early venture, mid venture, late venture, middle market, later stage, mature, emerging growth, PIPEs, and buyout transactions. For fund of fund investments, it seeks to invest in private equity funds, venture capital funds, and hedge funds. The firm seeks to provide long term capital to businesses operating in the global financial services industry. It typically acquires controlling interests in businesses. The firm seeks to acquire debt, equity, or derivative securities of both public and private companies. It invests with the objective of providing its shareholders with capital appreciation and real wealth preservation. The firm seeks to provide its portfolio companies with advisory services including, but not limited to, advice on capital allocation, financing strategy, performance measurement and merger and acquisition support. It also seeks to partner with like-minded providers of third party capital to help supplement the firm's own capital, when completing acquisitions. The firm generally seeks to hold its investments for seven to 15 years. The Westaim Corporation was founded in 1996 and is based in Toronto, Canada.
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