Analyzing Elkem ASA (OTCMKTS:ELKEF) & Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG)

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) and Elkem ASA (OTCMKTS:ELKEF) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Scotts Miracle-Gro and Elkem ASA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scotts Miracle-Gro	2.19%	-81.90%	8.97%
Elkem ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Scotts Miracle-Gro and Elkem ASA, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scotts Miracle-Gro	0	4	3	0	2.43
Elkem ASA	0	0	0	0	0.00

Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus target price of $75.40, indicating a potential upside of 10.82%. Given Scotts Miracle-Gro’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Scotts Miracle-Gro is more favorable than Elkem ASA.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.1% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.4% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Scotts Miracle-Gro and Elkem ASA”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Scotts Miracle-Gro	$3.37 billion	1.17	$145.20 million	$1.15	59.17
Elkem ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Scotts Miracle-Gro has higher revenue and earnings than Elkem ASA.

Summary

Scotts Miracle-Gro beats Elkem ASA on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and sells products for lawn, garden care, and indoor and hydroponic gardening in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Consumer, Hawthorne, and Other. The company provides lawn care products, comprising lawn fertilizers, grass seed products, spreaders, and other durable products, as well as lawn-related weed, pest, and disease control products; and gardening and landscape products, which include water-soluble and continuous-release plant foods, potting mixes, garden soils, mulches and ground cover products, plant-related pest and disease control products, organic garden products, and live goods and seeding solutions. It offers hydroponic products that help users to grow plants, flowers, and vegetables using little or no soil; lighting systems and components for use in hydroponic and indoor gardening applications; insect, rodent, and weed control products for home areas; and non-selective weed killer products. The company sells its products under the Scotts, Turf Builder, EZ Seed, PatchMaster, Thick'R Lawn, GrubEx, EdgeGuard, Handy Green II, Miracle-Gro, LiquaFeed, Shake N Feed, Hyponex, Earthgro, Nature Scapes, Ortho, Miracle-Gro Performance Organics, Miracle-Gro Organic Choice, Whitney Farms, EcoScraps, Mother Earth, Botanicare, General Hydroponics, Cyco, Gavita, Agrolux, HydroLogic Purification System, Gro Pro, AeroGarden, Titan, Tomcat, Ortho Weed B Gon, Roundup, Groundclear, and Alchemist brands. It serves home centers, mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs, large hardware chains, independent hardware stores, nurseries, garden centers, e-commerce platforms, and food and drug stores, as well as indoor gardening and hydroponic distributors, retailers, and growers. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Marysville, Ohio.

About Elkem ASA

Elkem ASA engages in the provision of advanced material solutions worldwide. It operates through three segments: Silicones, Silicon Products, and Carbon Solutions. The company offers silicones polymers, including silicone oils, compounds, emulsions, grease, and resins, as well as chlorosilanes, heat cured rubber silicone, liquid silicone rubber, and RTV-1 and RTV-2 silicones. It also provides silicon-based materials comprising silicon, silicon powder/micronized silicon, silica fume/ micro-silica, ferrosilicon, and grain refiners. In addition, the company offers foundry alloys, such as preconditioners, recarburizers, conditioners, nodularizers, inserts, and inoculants; and carbon-based materials comprising carbon electrodes, furnace tapping materials, electrode paste, ramming paste, prebaked electrodes, and furnace lining materials, as well as polymer additives, and oilfield and refractories specialty products. It offers its products to electronics, aerospace, healthcare, personal care, packaging, airbag coating, chemicals, aluminium, electronics, automotive, specialty steel, solar, construction, refractories, oil and gas, ferroalloys, silicon, and aluminium industries. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. Elkem ASA operates as a subsidiary of Bluestar Elkem International Co., Ltd. S.A.