Reviewing Montrose Environmental Group (NYSE:MEG) & Enviri (NYSE:NVRI)

Montrose Environmental Group (NYSE:MEG) and Enviri (NYSE:NVRI) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.9% of Montrose Environmental Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.4% of Enviri shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.2% of Montrose Environmental Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Enviri shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Montrose Environmental Group and Enviri, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Montrose Environmental Group	1	2	4	0	2.43
Enviri	1	1	0	0	1.50

Montrose Environmental Group currently has a consensus price target of $33.17, indicating a potential upside of 18.72%. Enviri has a consensus price target of $10.00, indicating a potential downside of 22.63%. Given Montrose Environmental Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Montrose Environmental Group is more favorable than Enviri.

Profitability

This table compares Montrose Environmental Group and Enviri’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Montrose Environmental Group	-5.10%	0.46%	0.21%
Enviri	-7.02%	-7.86%	-1.33%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Montrose Environmental Group and Enviri”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Montrose Environmental Group	$696.40 million	1.42	-$62.31 million	($1.51)	-18.50
Enviri	$2.34 billion	0.44	-$127.97 million	($1.96)	-6.59

Montrose Environmental Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Enviri. Montrose Environmental Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Enviri, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Montrose Environmental Group has a beta of 1.78, meaning that its stock price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Enviri has a beta of 1.93, meaning that its stock price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Montrose Environmental Group beats Enviri on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Montrose Environmental Group

Montrose Environmental Group, Inc. operates as an environmental services company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Assessment, Permitting and Response; Measurement and Analysis; and Remediation and Reuse. The Assessment, Permitting and Response segment provides scientific advisory and consulting services to support environmental assessments; environmental emergency response and recovery; toxicology consulting and environmental audits and permits for current operations; facility upgrades; new projects; decommissioning projects; and development projects. This segment also offers technical advisory and consulting services, including regulatory compliance support and planning, environmental, ecosystem and toxicological assessments, and support during responses to environmental disruptions. The Measurement and Analysis segment tests and analyzes air, water, and soil to determine concentrations of contaminants, as well as the toxicological impact of contaminants on flora, fauna, and human health. Its services include source and ambient air testing and monitoring, leak detection, and advanced analytical laboratory services, such as storm water, wastewater, and drinking water analysis. The Remediation and Reuse segment provides engineering, design, implementation, and operations and maintenance services primarily to treat contaminated water, remove contaminants from soil, or create biogas from waste. The company serves financial, oil and gas, utilities, construction, automotive, real-estate, midstream energy, manufacturing, commodities, petrochemical, food and beverage, telecommunications, and engineering industries, as well as local, state, provincial, and federal government entities. Montrose Environmental Group, Inc. was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

About Enviri

Enviri Corporation provides environmental solutions for industrial and specialty waste streams in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Harsco Environmental and Clean Earth. The Harsco Environmental segment offers on-site services under long-term contracts for material logistics, product quality improvement, and resource recovery for iron, steel, and metals manufacturing; manufactures and sells industrial abrasives, roofing granules, aluminum dross, and scrap processing systems; and meltshop and furnace services, such as under-vessel cleaning, removal of ladle slag, and general melt shop debris. This segment also produces and sells value-added downstream products from industrial waste-stream, including road surfacing and materials, such as slag-based asphalt product under the SteelPhal brand; abrasives and roofing materials under the BLACK BEAUTY and SURE/CUT brand names; Metallurgical Additives; agriculture and turf products comprising soil conditioners and fertilizers under the CrossOver and AgrowSil brands; and cement additives. The Clean Earth segment provides specialty waste processing, treatment, recycling, and beneficial reuse solutions for waste needs, such as hazardous, non-hazardous, and contaminated soils and dredged materials to industrial, retail, healthcare, and construction industries. The company was formerly known as Harsco Corporation and changed its name to Enviri Corporation in June 2023. The company was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.