Contrasting Oil-Dri Co. of America (NYSE:ODC) and Multi Ways (NYSE:MWG)

Oil-Dri Co. of America (NYSE:ODC) and Multi Ways (NYSE:MWG) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Oil-Dri Co. of America and Multi Ways, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oil-Dri Co. of America	0	0	0	0	N/A
Multi Ways	0	0	0	0	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

49.0% of Oil-Dri Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.8% of Multi Ways shares are held by institutional investors. 12.3% of Oil-Dri Co. of America shares are held 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Oil-Dri Co. of America and Multi Ways”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oil-Dri Co. of America	$437.59 million	1.14	$39.43 million	$5.44	12.53
Multi Ways	$36.02 million	0.26	$1.79 million	N/A	N/A

Oil-Dri Co. of America has higher revenue and earnings than Multi Ways.

Risk and Volatility

Oil-Dri Co. of America has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Multi Ways has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Oil-Dri Co. of America and Multi Ways’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oil-Dri Co. of America	9.01%	20.06%	12.68%
Multi Ways	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Oil-Dri Co. of America beats Multi Ways on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oil-Dri Co. of America

Oil-Dri Corporation of America, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets sorbent products in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Retail and Wholesale Products Group, and Business to Business Products Group. The company provides agricultural and horticultural products, including mineral-based absorbent products that serve as carriers for biological and chemical active ingredients, drying agents, and growing media under the Agsorb, Verge, and Flo-Fre brand names. It also offers animal health and nutrition products for the livestock industry under the Amlan, Calibrin, Varium, Neoprime, Sorbiam, Ambio P, Ambio S, MD-09, and Pel-Unite and Pel-Unite Plus brand names; and bleaching adsorbent products for bleaching, purification, and filtration applications under the Pure-Flo, Perform, Select, Metal-X, Metal-Z, and Ultra-Clear brand names. In addition, the company provides cat litter products, such as scoopable and non-clumping litters under the Cat's Pride and Jonny Cat brand names; industrial and automotive sorbent products from clay, polypropylene, and recycled materials that absorb oil, acid, paint, ink, water, and other liquids under the Oil-Dri brand name; and sports products for use on baseball, softball, football, cricket, and soccer fields under the Pro's Choice brand name. Its customers include mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs, drugstore chains, pet specialty retail outlets, dollar stores, retail grocery stores, distributors of industrial cleanup and automotive products, environmental service companies, and sports field product and sports turf material users; processors and refiners of edible oils, petroleum-based oils, and biodiesel fuel; manufacturers of animal feed and agricultural chemicals; distributors of animal health and nutrition products; and marketers of consumer products. Oil-Dri Corporation of America was founded in 1941 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

About Multi Ways

Multi Ways Holdings Limited supplies a range of heavy construction equipment for sales and rental in Singapore, Australia, and internationally. The company engages in the supplying and rental of new and used heavy construction equipment in the infrastructure, building construction, mining, offshore and marine, and oil and gas industries. It offers earth-moving equipment, such as bulldozers, off-terrain dump trucks, excavators, and wheel loaders; material-handling equipment, such as crawler cranes, rough terrain cranes, scissor lifts, forklifts, boom-lifts, and telescopic handlers; road-building equipment comprising motor graders, vibrating compactors, asphalt finishers, skid loaders, backhoe loaders, hand rollers, and mini excavators; and air compressors, generators, lighting towers, and welding machines. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Singapore. Multi Ways Holdings Limited operates as a subsidiary of MWE Investments Limited.