NL Industries (NYSE: NL) and AMTEK (NYSE:AME) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitabiliy and risk.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for NL Industries and AMTEK, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| NL Industries | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| AMTEK | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 2.90 |
NL Industries currently has a consensus price target of $6.00, suggesting a potential downside of 18.37%. AMTEK has a consensus price target of $64.40, suggesting a potential downside of 0.19%. Given AMTEK’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AMTEK is more favorable than NL Industries.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares NL Industries and AMTEK’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| NL Industries | $111.79 million | 3.20 | $6.88 million | $0.54 | 13.61 |
| AMTEK | $3.99 billion | 3.72 | $1.04 billion | $2.28 | 28.30 |
AMTEK has higher revenue and earnings than NL Industries. NL Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AMTEK, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
6.5% of NL Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.8% of AMTEK shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of NL Industries shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of AMTEK shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Risk & Volatility
NL Industries has a beta of 2.68, indicating that its share price is 168% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AMTEK has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares NL Industries and AMTEK’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| NL Industries | 23.55% | 13.97% | 6.94% |
| AMTEK | 13.26% | 16.28% | 7.68% |
Dividends
AMTEK pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. NL Industries does not pay a dividend. AMTEK pays out 15.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Summary
AMTEK beats NL Industries on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
NL Industries Company Profile
NL Industries, Inc. is a holding company. The Company operates in the component products industry through its subsidiary, CompX International Inc. (CompX). The Company operates in the chemicals industry through its non-controlling interest in Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (Kronos). The Company, through Compx, manufactures engineered components that are sold to a range of industries, including recreational transportation (including boats), postal, office and institutional furniture, cabinetry, tool storage, healthcare, gas stations and vending equipment. Kronos is a global producer and marketer of value-added titanium dioxide pigments (TiO2), a base industrial product used in imparting whiteness, brightness and opacity to a range of customer applications and end use markets, including coatings, plastics, paper, inks, food, cosmetics, and other industrial and consumer products. Kronos has production facilities in Europe and North America.
AMTEK Company Profile
AMETEK, Inc. is a manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with operations in North America, Europe, Asia and South America. The Company operates through two segments: Electronic Instruments (EIG) and Electromechanical (EMG). EIG designs and manufactures instruments for the process, power and industrial and aerospace markets. EIG provides process and analytical instruments for the oil, gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, semiconductor and automation markets. It makes monitoring and metering devices, industrial battery chargers and uninterruptible power supplies, programmable power equipment, electrical test equipment and gas turbine sensors. EMG is a differentiated supplier of precision motion control solutions, thermal management systems, specialty metals and electrical interconnects. Its end markets include medical, automation, petrochemical and other industrial markets. It operates a network of aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities.
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