Head to Head Contrast: Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) versus Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT)

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) and Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) are both mid-cap materials 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Mosaic and Ingevity”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mosaic	$12.05 billion	0.47	$540.70 million	($2.02)	-8.75
Ingevity	$1.17 billion	2.08	-$167.10 million	$1.47	47.98

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

77.5% of Mosaic shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ingevity shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Mosaic shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Ingevity 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.

Risk and Volatility

Mosaic has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ingevity has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Mosaic and Ingevity’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mosaic	-5.21%	3.77%	1.87%
Ingevity	4.65%	284.70%	10.82%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Mosaic and Ingevity, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mosaic	3	13	6	0	2.14
Ingevity	0	3	2	0	2.40

Mosaic currently has a consensus price target of $26.67, indicating a potential upside of 50.89%. Ingevity has a consensus price target of $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.42%. Given Mosaic’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mosaic is more favorable than Ingevity.

Summary

Ingevity beats Mosaic on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mosaic

The Mosaic Company, through its subsidiaries, produces and markets concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Phosphates, Potash, and Mosaic Fertilizantes. It owns and operates mines, which produce concentrated phosphate crop nutrients, such as diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate, and ammoniated phosphate products; and phosphate-based animal feed ingredients primarily under the Biofos and Nexfos brand names, as well as produces a double sulfate of potash magnesia product under K-Mag brand name. The company also produces and sells potash for use in the manufacturing of mixed crop nutrients and animal feed ingredients, and for industrial use; and for use in the de-icing and as a water softener regenerant. In addition, it provides nitrogen-based crop nutrients, animal feed ingredients, and other ancillary services; and purchases and sells phosphates, potash, and nitrogen products. The company sells its products to wholesale distributors, retail chains, farmers, cooperatives, independent retailers, and national accounts. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

About Ingevity

Ingevity Corporation manufactures and sells activated carbon products, derivative specialty chemicals, and engineered polymers in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. It operates through three segments: Performance Materials, Performance Chemicals, and Advanced Polymer Technologies. The Performance Materials segment engineers, manufactures, and sells hardwood-based and chemically activated carbon products for use in gasoline vapor emission control systems in cars, motorcycles, trucks, and boats. This segment also produces other activated carbon products for food, water, beverage, and chemical purification applications. The Performance Chemicals segment consists of road technologies and industrial specialties. This segment's products are used in pavement construction, pavement preservation, pavement reconstruction and recycling, road markings, agrochemical dispersants, paper chemicals, and other industrial uses. The Advanced Polymer Technologies segment produces caprolactone and caprolactone-based specialty polymers for use in coatings, resins, elastomers, adhesives, bioplastics, and medical devices. It serves automotive parts and components manufacturers through sales representatives and distributors. The company was formerly known as WestRock Company, Specialty Chemicals Business and changed its name to Ingevity Corporation in September 2015. Ingevity Corporation was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina.