Financial Survey: Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) & Unicharm (OTCMKTS:UNICY)

Unicharm (OTCMKTS:UNICY) and Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Unicharm has a beta of 0.24, indicating that its stock price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alto Ingredients has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Unicharm and Alto Ingredients”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unicharm	$6.54 billion	1.49	$540.15 million	$0.17	16.35
Alto Ingredients	$922.31 million	0.21	-$58.98 million	($0.69)	-3.62

Unicharm has higher revenue and earnings than Alto Ingredients. Alto Ingredients is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Unicharm, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Unicharm and Alto Ingredients, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unicharm	0	0	0	0	0.00
Alto Ingredients	1	0	1	1	2.67

Alto Ingredients has a consensus price target of $5.50, indicating a potential upside of 120.00%. Given Alto Ingredients’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Alto Ingredients is more favorable than Unicharm.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unicharm	N/A	N/A	N/A
Alto Ingredients	-5.44%	-12.02%	-6.59%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

42.4% of Alto Ingredients shares are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of Alto Ingredients shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Unicharm beats Alto Ingredients on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Unicharm

Unicharm Corporation engages in the manufacturing and sale of wellness, feminine, baby and children, kirei, and pet care products in Japan and internationally. The company's baby and child care products, including disposable diapers and wipes under the Moony, MamyPoko, Oyasumiman, and Torepanman brands; feminine care products comprise napkins, tampons, panty liners, sanitary short, panty liners, and other feminine care products under the Sofy, Center-In, and Unicharm brand names; and wellness care products include napkin-type incontinence pads, pants-type diapers, tape-type diapers, pants-type specialized urine pads, and tape-type specialized urine pads under the Lifree and Charmnap brand. It also provides masks under the Unicharm brand; home care products, including cleaning sheets under the Wave brand name; cosmetic cotton and wet wipes under the Silcot brand; and paper towels under the Cook Up brand name. In addition, the company offers pet care products that include pet foods, excrement cleanup sheets, system toilets, and disposable diapers under the Grand Deli, Best Balance, Physicalife Dog, Silver Plate, Aiken Genki, Manner Wear, Deo Sheet, Silver Spoon, AllWell, Physicalife Cat, Deo Toilet, Deo Sand, Deo Clean, and Neko Genki brands; and deodorizing beads. Further, it is involved in the manufacture and sale of industrial materials related products, etc., as well as food-packaging materials. Unicharm Corporation was incorporated in 1941 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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.