Head-To-Head Analysis: Pyxis Tankers (NASDAQ:PXS) & Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO)

Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) and Pyxis Tankers (NASDAQ:PXS) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Alto Ingredients and Pyxis Tankers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alto Ingredients	0	2	1	0	2.33
Pyxis Tankers	0	1	1	0	2.50

Alto Ingredients presently has a consensus target price of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 175.48%. Given Alto Ingredients’ higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Alto Ingredients is more favorable than Pyxis Tankers.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

42.4% of Alto Ingredients shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.2% of Pyxis Tankers shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of Alto Ingredients shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 54.6% of Pyxis Tankers shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Alto Ingredients has a beta of 0.16, meaning that its share price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pyxis Tankers has a beta of -0.5, meaning that its share price is 150% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alto Ingredients	5.51%	18.54%	11.61%
Pyxis Tankers	20.00%	8.24%	4.42%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Alto Ingredients and Pyxis Tankers”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alto Ingredients	$917.93 million	0.31	$13.34 million	$0.67	5.42
Pyxis Tankers	$38.99 million	1.69	$1.99 million	$0.81	7.95

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

Summary

Pyxis Tankers beats Alto Ingredients on 7 of the 13 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 Pyxis Tankers

Pyxis Tankers, Inc. is an international maritime transportation holding company, which engages in the ownership and operation of a fleet of product tankers. It also deals with the seaborne transportation and shipping of refined petroleum products and other bulk liquids. It operates through the Tanker Vessels and Dry-bulk Vessels segments. The company was founded by Valentios Valentis on March 23, 2015 and is headquartered in Maroussi, Greece.