Analyzing Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) and General Enterprise Ventures (OTCMKTS:GEVI)

General Enterprise Ventures (OTCMKTS:GEVI) and Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) are both small-cap construction companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares General Enterprise Ventures and Ingevity’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
General Enterprise Ventures	-544.66%	-162.24%	-104.56%
Ingevity	-38.11%	24.46%	4.29%

Volatility and Risk

General Enterprise Ventures has a beta of 5.16, indicating that its stock price is 416% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ingevity has a beta of 1.62, indicating that its stock price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares General Enterprise Ventures and Ingevity”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
General Enterprise Ventures	$520,000.00	49.19	-$10.10 million	($0.08)	-8.69
Ingevity	$1.48 billion	1.02	-$564.50 million	($15.53)	-2.67

General Enterprise Ventures has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ingevity. General Enterprise Ventures is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ingevity, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for General Enterprise Ventures and Ingevity, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
General Enterprise Ventures	0	0	0	0	0.00
Ingevity	0	3	3	0	2.50

Ingevity has a consensus target price of $52.17, indicating a potential upside of 25.82%. Given Ingevity’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ingevity is more favorable than General Enterprise Ventures.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.6% of Ingevity shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Ingevity shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ingevity beats General Enterprise Ventures on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About General Enterprise Ventures

General Enterprise Ventures, Inc., engages in installing large home and facility proactive wildfire prevention systems. It offers CitroTech products for the prevention and spread of wildfires, as well as lumber treatments for fire prevention. The company was formerly known as General Entertainment Ventures, Inc. and changed its name to General Enterprise Ventures, Inc. in October 2021. General Enterprise Ventures, Inc. is based in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

About Ingevity

Ingevity Corporation manufactures and sells activated carbon products, derivative specialty chemicals, and engineered polymers in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. It operates through three segments: Performance Materials, Performance Chemicals, and Advanced Polymer Technologies. The Performance Materials segment engineers, manufactures, and sells hardwood-based and chemically activated carbon products for use in gasoline vapor emission control systems in cars, motorcycles, trucks, and boats. This segment also produces other activated carbon products for food, water, beverage, and chemical purification applications. The Performance Chemicals segment consists of road technologies and industrial specialties. This segment's products are used in pavement construction, pavement preservation, pavement reconstruction and recycling, road markings, agrochemical dispersants, paper chemicals, and other industrial uses. The Advanced Polymer Technologies segment produces caprolactone and caprolactone-based specialty polymers for use in coatings, resins, elastomers, adhesives, bioplastics, and medical devices. It serves automotive parts and components manufacturers through sales representatives and distributors. The company was formerly known as WestRock Company, Specialty Chemicals Business and changed its name to Ingevity Corporation in September 2015. Ingevity Corporation was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina.