Acuity (NYSE:AYI) & NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) Critical Contrast

NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) and Acuity (NYSE:AYI) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

NuScale Power has a beta of 2.42, indicating that its stock price is 142% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acuity has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.4% of NuScale Power shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Acuity shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of NuScale Power shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Acuity shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares NuScale Power and Acuity’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NuScale Power	-6,817.00%	-11.98%	-11.22%
Acuity	11.45%	20.30%	12.43%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for NuScale Power and Acuity, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NuScale Power	5	7	4	1	2.06
Acuity	0	5	4	0	2.44

NuScale Power currently has a consensus target price of $8.73, suggesting a potential upside of 81.25%. Acuity has a consensus target price of $374.20, suggesting a potential upside of 13.07%. Given NuScale Power’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe NuScale Power is more favorable than Acuity.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares NuScale Power and Acuity”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NuScale Power	$31.48 million	65.75	-$355.79 million	($1.18)	-4.08
Acuity	$4.64 billion	2.12	$531.30 million	$17.10	19.35

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

Summary

Acuity beats NuScale Power on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NuScale Power

NuScale Power develops small modular nuclear reactor technology and related services for electric utilities, industrial companies, and government customers. Its NuScale Power Module is a factory-fabricated, water-cooled reactor designed to be deployed in groups, allowing plants to scale capacity to meet customer needs. The company supports projects through engineering, licensing, design, and deployment services. Its VOYGR plant concept uses NuScale modules to provide electricity and can also support applications such as district heating, hydrogen production, and water desalination.

About Acuity

Acuity (NYSE: AYI) designs, manufactures and sells lighting and building-management solutions. Its offerings include indoor and outdoor luminaires, lighting controls, building automation systems and related software for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential settings. The company sells products under a portfolio of brands, including Lithonia Lighting, Juno, Peerless, Gotham and Distech Controls. Its solutions help customers manage lighting, building systems and energy use across a range of facilities.