Comparing Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) and KiOR (OTCMKTS:KIORQ)

Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) and KiOR (OTCMKTS:KIORQ) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Alto Ingredients and KiOR’s 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%
KiOR	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alto Ingredients	$1.00 billion	0.12	-$28.00 million	($0.52)	-2.96
KiOR	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

KiOR has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Alto Ingredients.

Institutional & 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 endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Alto Ingredients and KiOR, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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

Alto Ingredients currently has a consensus target price of $5.50, indicating a potential upside of 257.14%. Given Alto Ingredients’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Alto Ingredients is more favorable than KiOR.

Summary

Alto Ingredients beats KiOR 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 KiOR

KiOR, Inc., incorporated on July 23, 2007, is a development-stage and is a next generation renewable fuels company. The Company is engaged in developing a commercial process to produce cellulosic gasoline and diesel from abundant, lignocellulosic biomass. The Company has developed a two-step technology platform that converts non-food lignocellulose into cellulosic gasoline and diesel that can be transported using the existing fuels distribution system for use in vehicles. The other renewable fuels are derived from soft starches, such as corn starch or cane sugar, for ethanol, or from soy and other vegetable oils for biodiesel, cellulosic fuel is derived from lignocellulose found in wood, grasses and the non-edible portions of plants. The Company has not generated any revenue.