Contrasting 22nd Century Group (NYSE:XXII) & U.S. Energy Corp. (USEG)

22nd Century Group (NYSE: XXII) and U.S. Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:USEG) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitabiliy, earnings, dividends and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares 22nd Century Group and U.S. Energy Corp.’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
22nd Century Group	$11.49 million	12.74	-$10.26 million	N/A	N/A
U.S. Energy Corp.	$6.43 million	0.69	-$358,999.00	N/A	N/A

U.S. Energy Corp. has higher revenue, but lower earnings than 22nd Century Group.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for 22nd Century Group and U.S. Energy Corp., as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
22nd Century Group	0	0	1	0	3.00
U.S. Energy Corp.	0	0	0	0	N/A

22nd Century Group currently has a consensus price target of $3.50, suggesting a potential upside of 117.39%. Given 22nd Century Group’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe 22nd Century Group is more favorable than U.S. Energy Corp..

Profitability

This table compares 22nd Century Group and U.S. Energy Corp.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
22nd Century Group	-117.47%	-45.50%	-39.67%
U.S. Energy Corp.	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

7.9% of U.S. Energy Corp. shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of U.S. Energy Corp. shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

U.S. Energy Corp. beats 22nd Century Group on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

22nd Century Group Company Profile

22nd Century Group, Inc. is a plant biotechnology company. The Company is focused on technology that allows increasing or decreasing the level of nicotine and other nicotinic alkaloids in tobacco plants, and levels of cannabinoids in cannabis plants through genetic engineering and plant breeding. It is engaged in various activities, including research and development of less harmful or modified risk tobacco products and tobacco plant varieties; development of X-22, a smoking cessation aid consisting of very low nicotine (VLN) cigarettes; manufacture, marketing and distribution of its RED SUN and MAGIC cigarettes; production of SPECTRUM research cigarettes for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); contract manufacturing of third-party branded tobacco products, and research and development of plant varieties of hemp/cannabis, such as plants with low to no amounts of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), plants with high levels of cannabidiol (CBD), and other non-THC cannabinoids.

U.S. Energy Corp. Company Profile

U.S. Energy Corp. (U.S. Energy) is an independent energy company focused on the acquisition and development of oil and gas producing properties in the continental United States. The Company’s business activities are focused on South Texas and the Williston Basin in North Dakota. The Company operates through Oil and Gas segment. The Company participates in oil and gas projects primarily as a non-operating working interest owner through exploration and development agreements with various oil and gas exploration and production companies. The Company is also pursuing acquisitions of exploration, development and production-stage oil and gas properties or companies. The Company holds a geographically and geologically diverse portfolio of oil-weighted prospects in varying-stages of exploration and development. The Company engages in the prospect stages either for its own account or with prospective partners to enlarge its oil and gas lease ownership base.