Analyzing Oil-Dri Corporation Of America (ODC) & WD-40 (WDFC)

Oil-Dri Corporation Of America (NYSE: ODC) and WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Oil-Dri Corporation Of America and WD-40, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oil-Dri Corporation Of America	0	0	0	0	N/A
WD-40	0	3	0	0	2.00

WD-40 has a consensus target price of $108.67, indicating a potential upside of 3.25%. Given WD-40’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe WD-40 is more favorable than Oil-Dri Corporation Of America.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Oil-Dri Corporation Of America and WD-40’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oil-Dri Corporation Of America	$261.45 million	1.07	$28.61 million	$2.02	19.04
WD-40	$381.10 million	3.87	$80.20 million	$3.70	28.45

WD-40 has higher revenue and earnings than Oil-Dri Corporation Of America. Oil-Dri Corporation Of America is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WD-40, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Oil-Dri Corporation Of America and WD-40’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oil-Dri Corporation Of America	5.63%	12.39%	7.15%
WD-40	13.85%	39.64%	15.29%

Dividends

Oil-Dri Corporation Of America pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. WD-40 pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Oil-Dri Corporation Of America pays out 45.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WD-40 pays out 53.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. WD-40 has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Oil-Dri Corporation Of America is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

54.1% of Oil-Dri Corporation Of America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.4% of WD-40 shares are held by institutional investors. 13.9% of Oil-Dri Corporation Of America shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of WD-40 shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Oil-Dri Corporation Of America has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WD-40 has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

WD-40 beats Oil-Dri Corporation Of America on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oil-Dri Corporation Of America

Oil-Dri Corporation of America is engaged in developing, manufacturing and/or marketing sorbent products. The Company operates through two segments: Retail and Wholesale Products Group, and Business to Business Products Group. The Retail and Wholesale Products Group’s customers include mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs, drugstore chains, dollar stores, distributors of industrial cleanup and automotive products, environmental service companies and sports field product users. The Business to Business Products Group’s customers include processors and refiners of edible oils, petroleum-based oils and biodiesel fuel; manufacturers of animal feed and agricultural chemicals; distributors of animal health and nutrition products, and marketers of consumer products. Its products include agricultural and horticultural products, animal health and nutrition products, bleaching clay and purification aid products, cat litter products, industrial and automotive products, and sports products.

About WD-40

WD-40 Company is a global company engaged in developing and selling products, which solve problems in workshops, factories and homes. The Company’s segments include the Americas; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific. The Company’s Americas segment includes the United States, Canada and Latin America. The EMEA segment includes countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. The Asia-Pacific segment includes Australia, China and other countries in the Asia region. The Company has two product groups, which include maintenance products and homecare and cleaning products. As of August 31, 2016, the Company marketed and sold its products in more than 176 countries and territories around the world primarily through mass retail and home center stores, warehouse club stores, grocery stores, hardware stores, automotive parts outlets, sport retailers, independent bike dealers, online retailers and industrial distributors and suppliers.