Comparing Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) and FMC (NYSE:FMC)

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

Dividends

Scotts Miracle-Gro pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. FMC pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Scotts Miracle-Gro pays out -37.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FMC pays out 22.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Scotts Miracle-Gro and FMC’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Scotts Miracle-Gro	$3.44 billion	1.13	-$380.10 million	($7.04)	-9.69
FMC	$4.49 billion	1.61	$1.32 billion	$10.53	5.49

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

Analyst Ratings

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scotts Miracle-Gro	0	4	1	0	2.20
FMC	1	11	5	0	2.24

Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has a consensus price target of $70.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.65%. FMC has a consensus price target of $71.75, suggesting a potential upside of 24.20%. Given FMC’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe FMC is more favorable than Scotts Miracle-Gro.

Risk & Volatility

Scotts Miracle-Gro has a beta of 1.7, meaning that its stock price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FMC has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scotts Miracle-Gro	-11.52%	-44.37%	1.02%
FMC	29.45%	12.98%	4.08%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.1% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.9% of FMC shares are held by institutional investors. 26.5% of Scotts Miracle-Gro shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of FMC shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

FMC beats Scotts Miracle-Gro on 13 of the 16 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 FMC

FMC Corporation, an agricultural sciences company, provides crop protection, plant health, and professional pest and turf management products. It develops, markets, and sells crop protection chemicals that includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides; and biologicals, crop nutrition, and seed treatment products, which are used in agriculture to enhance crop yield and quality by controlling a range of insects, weeds, and diseases, as well as in non-agricultural markets for pest control. The company markets its products through its own sales organization and through alliance partners, independent distributors, and sales representatives. It operates in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.