Reviewing Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) and Keyuan Petrochemicals (OTCMKTS:KEYP)

Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) and Keyuan Petrochemicals (OTCMKTS:KEYP) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Alto Ingredients and Keyuan Petrochemicals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alto Ingredients	-3.61%	-11.22%	-6.96%
Keyuan Petrochemicals	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Alto Ingredients and Keyuan Petrochemicals”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alto Ingredients	$1.22 billion	0.10	-$28.00 million	($0.52)	-3.08
Keyuan Petrochemicals	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Keyuan Petrochemicals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Alto Ingredients.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

42.4% of Alto Ingredients shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.9% of Alto Ingredients shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Alto Ingredients and Keyuan Petrochemicals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alto Ingredients	0	0	1	0	3.00
Keyuan Petrochemicals	0	0	0	0	0.00

Alto Ingredients presently has a consensus target price of $5.50, suggesting a potential upside of 243.75%. Given Alto Ingredients’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Alto Ingredients is more favorable than Keyuan Petrochemicals.

Summary

Alto Ingredients beats Keyuan Petrochemicals on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alto Ingredients

Alto Ingredients, Inc. produces, distributes, and markets specialty alcohols, renewable fuel, and essential ingredients in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Marketing and Distribution, Pekin Campus Production, and Western Production. It offers specialty alcohols used in mouthwash, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and cleaners for health, home, and beauty markets; grain neutral spirits used in alcoholic beverages and vinegar, as well as corn germ used in corn oils in the food and beverage markets; alcohols and other products for paint applications and fertilizers in the industrial and agriculture markets; and essential ingredients include dried yeast, corn protein meal, corn protein feed, distiller's grains, and liquid feed for commercial animal feed and pet food applications, as well as yeast for human consumption. The company also provides fuel-grade ethanol used as transportation fuel and distillers corn oil used as a biodiesel feedstock, as well as fuel-grade ethanol produced by third parties. In addition, it offers transportation, storage, and delivery services through third-party service providers. The company sells ethanol to integrated oil companies and gasoline marketers; essential ingredient feed products to dairies and feedlots; and corn oil to poultry, renewable diesel, and biodiesel customers. It operates alcohol production facilities. The company was formerly known as Pacific Ethanol, Inc. and changed its name to Alto Ingredients, Inc. in January 2021. Alto Ingredients, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Pekin, Illinois.

About Keyuan Petrochemicals

Keyuan Petrochemicals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, Ningbo Keyuan, Ningbo Keyuan Petrochemicals, Keyuan Synthetic Rubbers, Guangxi Keyuan and Zhongkexuneng, is engaged in the manufacture and sale of petrochemical products and rubber in the People’s Republic of China. The Company’s segments include the manufacture and sale of petrochemical products (petrochemical segment) and the manufacture and sale of rubber products (rubber segment). The Petrochemicals Segment includes the manufacturing and sales of mixed light aromatics, mixed heavy aromatics, fine propylene, propane, butane, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), methyltert-butylether and styrene. The Rubber Segment includes the manufacturing and sales of various rubber products. It manufactures and supplies various petrochemical and rubber products, including petrochemical products, such as Benzene Toluene-Xylene Aromatics (BTX Aromatics), propylene, styrene, LPG, Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) and rubber products.