Critical Survey: Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) & Cadiz (NASDAQ:CDZI)

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

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Scotts Miracle-Gro and Cadiz”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	$3.55 billion	0.99	-$34.90 million	$0.76	79.97
Cadiz	$15.05 million	21.36	-$31.14 million	($0.51)	-7.69

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

Risk and Volatility

Scotts Miracle-Gro has a beta of 1.98, meaning that its share price is 98% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cadiz has a beta of 1.82, meaning that its share price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

74.1% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.8% of Cadiz shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.4% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Cadiz shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scotts Miracle-Gro	1.54%	-60.46%	6.35%
Cadiz	-217.49%	-97.55%	-24.76%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Scotts Miracle-Gro and Cadiz, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scotts Miracle-Gro	0	2	4	1	2.86
Cadiz	0	1	1	0	2.50

Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus target price of $71.17, suggesting a potential upside of 17.09%. Cadiz has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 155.10%. Given Cadiz’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cadiz is more favorable than Scotts Miracle-Gro.

Summary

Scotts Miracle-Gro beats Cadiz on 11 of the 15 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 Cadiz

Cadiz Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides water solutions in the United States. The company operates through Land and Water Resources; and Water Filtration Technology segments. It offers water supply, water storage, water conveyance, and water filtration services. In addition, the company is involved in the cultivation of grain crops and alfalfa, as well as provides water filtration solutions for impaired or contaminated groundwater sources. It serves public water systems, government agencies, and other clients. Cadiz Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Los Angeles, California.