urban-gro (NASDAQ:UGRO – Get Free Report) and MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM – Get Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings and valuation.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
20.6% of urban-gro shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.3% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are held by institutional investors. 4.4% of urban-gro shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.0% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares urban-gro and MSC Industrial Direct’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| urban-gro | -82.11% | -118.44% | -33.76% |
| MSC Industrial Direct | 5.91% | 17.34% | 9.79% |
Valuation and Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| urban-gro | $17.40 million | 0.00 | -$22.10 million | ($27.87) | -0.00 |
| MSC Industrial Direct | $3.91 billion | 1.89 | $199.33 million | $4.14 | 32.00 |
MSC Industrial Direct has higher revenue and earnings than urban-gro. urban-gro is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MSC Industrial Direct, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for urban-gro and MSC Industrial Direct, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| urban-gro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| MSC Industrial Direct | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2.67 |
MSC Industrial Direct has a consensus price target of $127.62, indicating a potential downside of 3.65%. Given MSC Industrial Direct’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MSC Industrial Direct is more favorable than urban-gro.
Volatility & Risk
urban-gro has a beta of -2.91, indicating that its stock price is 391% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MSC Industrial Direct has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
MSC Industrial Direct beats urban-gro on 15 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About urban-gro
urban-gro, Inc. engages in the designing, engineering, building, and integrating complex environmental equipment systems for indoor controlled environment agriculture (CEA) cultivation and retail facilities in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The company provides architectural design, engineering, and construction services comprising pre-construction, cultivation space programming (CSP), architectural and interior design, engineering, integrated cultivation design, owner's representative/construction management, and general contracting services; and maintenance, training, and support services. It also offers facility and equipment commissioning services; gro-care crop and asset protection services, including training services, equipment maintenance services, asset protection program, and an interactive online operating support system for gro-care and client document delivery and project management; and property condition assessment services. In addition, the company provides integrated equipment systems solutions, such as design, source, and integration of complex environmental equipment systems comprising heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions, as well as environmental control, fertigation, irrigation distribution, water treatment, and wastewater reclamation systems; and commercial horticulture lighting solutions, rolling and automated container benching systems, specialty fans, microbial mitigation, and odor reduction systems. Further, it offers value-Added Reselling (VAR) of cultivation equipment systems; and strategic vendor relationships with premier manufacturers. It primarily markets and sells its solutions to clients in the CEA that includes operators and facilitators in the cannabis and produce markets; and commercial sectors comprising food and beverage consumer packaged goods companies, healthcare, higher education, and hospitality. urban-gro, Inc. was founded in 2014 and is based in Lafayette, Colorado.
About MSC Industrial Direct
MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products and services in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company's MRO products include cutting tools, measuring instruments, tooling components, metalworking products, fasteners, flat stock products, raw materials, abrasives, machinery hand and power tools, safety and janitorial supplies, plumbing supplies, materials handling products, power transmission components, and electrical supplies. It offers stock-keeping units through its catalogs and brochures; e-commerce channels, including its website, mscdirect.com; inventory management solutions; and customer care centers, customer fulfillment centers, regional inventory centers, and warehouses. The company serves individual machine shops, manufacturing companies, and government agencies. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.
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