Analyzing Ascent Industries (NASDAQ:ACNT) & Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR)

Ascent Industries (NASDAQ:ACNT) and Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ascent Industries and Ingersoll Rand”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascent Industries	$177.87 million	0.91	-$13.60 million	$0.12	143.83
Ingersoll Rand	$7.65 billion	4.84	$581.40 million	$1.45	65.19

Ingersoll Rand has higher revenue and earnings than Ascent Industries. Ingersoll Rand is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ascent Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Ascent Industries has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ingersoll Rand has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ascent Industries and Ingersoll Rand, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascent Industries	0	1	0	0	2.00
Ingersoll Rand	0	5	4	0	2.44

Ingersoll Rand has a consensus target price of $101.86, indicating a potential upside of 7.76%. Given Ingersoll Rand’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ingersoll Rand is more favorable than Ascent Industries.

Profitability

This table compares Ascent Industries and Ingersoll Rand’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ascent Industries	0.85%	-1.63%	-1.09%
Ingersoll Rand	7.60%	12.62%	7.11%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

26.1% of Ascent Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.3% of Ingersoll Rand shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.3% of Ascent Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Ingersoll Rand shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ingersoll Rand beats Ascent Industries on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ascent Industries

Ascent Industries Co. an industrials company, produces and distributes stainless steel pipe and tube and specialty chemicals in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Tubular Products and Specialty Chemicals. It manufactures welded pipes and tubes, primarily from stainless steel, duplex, and nickel alloys; and ornamental stainless steel tubes for automotive, commercial transportation, marine, food services, construction, furniture, healthcare, and other industries. The company also produces defoamers, surfactants, and lubricating agents for end users, including companies that supply agrochemical paper, metal working, coatings, water treatment, paint, mining, oil and gas, and janitorial and other applications. In addition, it provides contract manufacturing services, as well as operates as a multi-purpose plant to process various difficult to handle materials, including flammable solvents, viscous liquids, and granular solids. The company was formerly known as Synalloy Corporation and changed its name to Ascent Industries Co. in August 2022. Ascent Industries Co. was founded in 1945 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

About Ingersoll Rand

Ingersoll Rand Inc. provides various mission-critical air, gas, liquid, and solid flow creation technologies services and solutions worldwide. It operates through two segments, Industrial Technologies and Services, and Precision and Science Technologies. The Industrial Technologies and Services segment designs, manufactures, markets, and services air and gas compression, vacuum, and blower products; fluid transfer equipment and loading systems; and power tools and lifting equipment, including associated aftermarket parts, consumables, air treatment equipment, controls, other accessories, and services under the under the Ingersoll Rand, Gardner Denver, Nash, CompAir, Elmo Rietschle brands, etc. The Precision and Science Technologies segment designs, manufactures, and markets diaphragm, piston, water-powered, peristaltic, gear, vane, progressive cavity, and syringe pumps; and gas boosters, hydrogen compression systems, automated liquid handling systems, odorant injection systems, controls, software, and other related components and accessories for liquid and gas dosing, transfer, dispensing, compression, sampling, pressure management, and flow control in specialized or critical applications under the Air Dimensions, Albin, ARO, Dosatron, Haskel, Ingersoll Rand, LMI, Maximus, Milton Roy, MP, Oberdorfer, Seepex, Thomas, Welch, Williams, YZ, and Zinnser Analytic brand names. This segment's products are used in medical, life sciences, industrial manufacturing, water and wastewater, chemical processing, energy, food and beverage, agriculture, and other markets. It sells through an integrated network of direct sales representatives and independent distributors. The company was formerly known as Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Ingersoll Rand Inc. in March 2020. Ingersoll Rand Inc. was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina.