Critical Comparison: 22nd Century Group (NASDAQ:XXII) & Pyxus International (OTCMKTS:PYYX)

Pyxus International (OTCMKTS:PYYX) and 22nd Century Group (NASDAQ:XXII) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Pyxus International and 22nd Century Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pyxus International	0	0	0	0	0.00
22nd Century Group	1	0	0	0	1.00

Insider and Institutional Ownership

18.1% of 22nd Century Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.0% of Pyxus International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of 22nd Century Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Pyxus International has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, 22nd Century Group has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Pyxus International and 22nd Century Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pyxus International	$2.41 billion	0.03	$14.57 million	$0.89	3.37
22nd Century Group	$17.59 million	0.09	-$5.05 million	($434.84)	-0.01

Pyxus International has higher revenue and earnings than 22nd Century Group. 22nd Century Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pyxus International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Pyxus International and 22nd Century Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pyxus International	0.99%	13.69%	1.22%
22nd Century Group	-27.04%	-69.37%	-44.30%

Summary

Pyxus International beats 22nd Century Group on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pyxus International

Pyxus International, Inc., an agricultural company, offers value-added products and services to businesses and customers. It also involved in the purchasing, processing, packing, storing, and shipping tobacco to manufacturers of cigarettes and other consumer tobacco products. The company offers its products in China, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Russia, Northern Africa, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Old Holdco, Inc. Pyxus International, Inc. was founded in 1873 and is headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina.

About 22nd Century Group

22nd Century Group, Inc., a tobacco products company, engages in the sale and distribution of its own proprietary new reduced nicotine tobacco products. The company offers reduced nicotine content tobacco plants and very low nicotine combustible cigarette products. It also provides contract manufacturing services for conventional combustible tobacco products for third-party brands. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mocksville, North Carolina.