Head-To-Head Analysis: Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) & Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG)

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) and Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Scotts Miracle-Gro and Corteva”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Scotts Miracle-Gro	$3.41 billion	1.08	$145.20 million	$1.47	43.36
Corteva	$17.40 billion	3.30	$1.09 billion	$1.58	54.12

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Scotts Miracle-Gro and Corteva, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scotts Miracle-Gro	0	4	4	0	2.50
Corteva	0	9	14	0	2.61

Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus target price of $72.83, indicating a potential upside of 14.27%. Corteva has a consensus target price of $83.19, indicating a potential downside of 2.70%. Given Scotts Miracle-Gro’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Scotts Miracle-Gro is more favorable than Corteva.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scotts Miracle-Gro	2.68%	-68.59%	7.29%
Corteva	6.29%	9.06%	5.39%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

74.1% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.5% of Corteva shares are held by institutional investors. 24.4% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Corteva shares are held 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.

Volatility & Risk

Scotts Miracle-Gro has a beta of 1.94, meaning that its share price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Corteva has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Scotts Miracle-Gro pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Corteva pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Scotts Miracle-Gro pays out 179.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Corteva pays out 45.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Corteva has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Summary

Corteva beats Scotts Miracle-Gro on 12 of the 17 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 Corteva

Corteva, Inc. operates in the agriculture business. It operates through two segments, Seed and Crop Protection. The Seed segment develops and supplies advanced germplasm and traits that produce optimum yield for farms. It offers trait technologies that enhance resistance to weather, disease, insects, and herbicides used to control weeds, as well as food and nutritional characteristics. This segment also provides digital solutions that assist farmer decision-making with a view to optimize product selection, and maximize yield and profitability. The Crop Protection segment offers products that protect against weeds, insects and other pests, and diseases, as well as enhances crop health above and below ground through nitrogen management and seed-applied technologies. This segment provides herbicides, insecticides, nitrogen stabilizers, and pasture and range management herbicides. It serves agricultural input industry. The company operates in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Corteva, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.