Comparing CDT Environmental Technology Investment (NASDAQ:CDTG) and ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ)

ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ) and CDT Environmental Technology Investment (NASDAQ:CDTG) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ARQ and CDT Environmental Technology Investment”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ARQ	$108.96 million	1.48	-$5.11 million	($0.10)	-37.90
CDT Environmental Technology Investment	$29.76 million	0.15	$1.45 million	N/A	N/A

CDT Environmental Technology Investment has lower revenue, but higher earnings than ARQ.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

18.5% of ARQ shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.9% of ARQ shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for ARQ and CDT Environmental Technology Investment, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ARQ	1	1	2	1	2.60
CDT Environmental Technology Investment	1	0	0	0	1.00

ARQ currently has a consensus target price of $8.75, suggesting a potential upside of 130.87%. Given ARQ’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe ARQ is more favorable than CDT Environmental Technology Investment.

Volatility and Risk

ARQ has a beta of 1.98, meaning that its share price is 98% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CDT Environmental Technology Investment has a beta of -4.24, meaning that its share price is 524% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ARQ and CDT Environmental Technology Investment’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ARQ	-3.33%	-1.11%	-0.86%
CDT Environmental Technology Investment	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

ARQ beats CDT Environmental Technology Investment on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ARQ

Arq, Inc. is a holding company. It engages in the provision of environmental and emission control equipment to the power generation industry. The company operates through the following Segments: Refined Coal and Advanced Purification Technologies. The Refined Coal segment includes the Tinuum Group, Tinuum Services, and GWN Manager. The Advanced Purification Technologies segment refers to the sale of Activated Carbon Injection and Dry Sorbent Injection equipment systems, chemical sales, consulting services, and other sales related to the reduction of emissions in the coal-fired electric generation process and the electric utility industry. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, CO.

About CDT Environmental Technology Investment

CDT Environmental Technology Investment Holdings Limited designs, develops, manufactures, sells, installs, operates, and maintains sewage treatment systems in China. The company sells complete sewage treatment systems; constructs rural sewage treatment plants; installs systems; and provides on-going operation and maintenance services for systems and plants in China for municipalities and enterprise clients. It provides sewage treatment services, such as on-site or in-situ septic tank treatment services in the urban and rural areas for municipalities, and residential and business property management companies. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is based in Shenzhen, China.