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Reasons to Add Ingevity (NGVT) Stocks to Your Portfolio Now

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Ingevity Corporation’s (NGVT - Free Report) stock looks promising at the moment. The chemical maker’s shares have gained around 13% year to date.

If you haven’t taken advantage of the share-price appreciation yet, the time is right for you to add the stock to portfolio as it looks promising and is poised to carry the momentum ahead.

What Makes Ingevity an Attractive Pick?

Solid Rank & VGM Score: Ingevity currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a VGM Score of A. Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2, offer the best investment opportunities for investors. Thus, the company appears to be a compelling investment proposition at the moment.

An Outperformer: Ingevity has outperformed the industry it belongs to over the past year. The company’s shares have gained 12%, as against the roughly 13.9% decline recorded by the industry.



 

Positive Earnings Surprise History: Ingevity has an impressive earnings surprise history, outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering a positive average earnings surprise of 19.8%.

Upbeat Outlook
 
Ingevity, in October, increased the mid-point and narrowed the range for its 2018 guidance for adjusted EBITDA to $306-$314 million from $302-$314 million. The company reaffirmed its sales guidance of between $1.10 billion and $1.13 billion for the year.

Sales growth in the oilfield industry backed by higher U.S. drilling and production is driving revenues and margins in the company’s Performance Chemicals division. Ingevity is poised to benefit from an expected rise in activated carbon demand on the back of the anticipated early adoption of China’s new gasoline emission standards (the China 6 national standard) by some municipalities and regions.

The company is also well placed to benefit from its buyout of Georgia-Pacific’s pine chemicals business. The acquisition is expected to create net synergies of roughly $11 million through manufacturing optimization, lower logistic costs and leveraged procurement costs. Recently, the company agreed to acquire the Capa caprolactone division of Perstorp Holding AB. The acquisition is likely to be accretive to Ingevity’s earnings immediately in the first full year.
 
The Performance Chemicals segment should also benefit from higher adoption of tall oil fatty acid (TOFA)-based products. Healthy TOFA pricing is also providing support to the margins of the division.

Strong Earnings Growth Prospects
 
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 earnings is currently pegged at $3.85, reflecting expected year-over-year growth of 49.2%. The same for 2019 stands at $4.67, indicating 21.5% year-over-year growth. Moreover, earnings are expected to register 73.3% growth in the current quarter. The stock also has a long-term expected earnings per share growth rate of roughly 12%, higher than the industry average of 11.4%.

Rising Estimates

Earnings estimate revisions have the greatest impact on stock prices. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 for Ingevity has moved up around 2.1% over the past two months, reflecting analysts’ confidence on the stock. 

Ingevity Corporation Price and Consensus

Other Stocks to Consider

Other top-ranked stocks include Verso Corporation , The Mosaic Company (MOS - Free Report) and Cameco Corporation (CCJ - Free Report) .

Verso has an expected earnings growth rate of 570% for the current year and flaunts a Zacks Rank #1. The company’s shares have appreciated 32% in the past year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Mosaic has an expected earnings growth rate of 75.2% for the current year and a Zacks Rank #2. The company’s shares have gained 14.7% in the past year.

Cameco has an expected earnings growth rate of 66.7% for the current year and a Zacks Rank #2. Its shares have rallied 20.8% in a year’s time.

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