United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) and SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:SXCP) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
69.0% of United States Steel Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.6% of SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of United States Steel Corporation shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for United States Steel Corporation and SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P., as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| United States Steel Corporation | 3 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2.24 |
| SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
United States Steel Corporation presently has a consensus target price of $27.59, suggesting a potential upside of 11.22%. SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.44%. Given SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P.’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. is more favorable than United States Steel Corporation.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares United States Steel Corporation and SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P.’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| United States Steel Corporation | $11.21 billion | 0.39 | $838.00 million | $0.16 | 155.06 |
| SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. | $800.00 million | 0.99 | $218.50 million | ($1.87) | -9.12 |
United States Steel Corporation has higher revenue and earnings than SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P.. SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United States Steel Corporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
United States Steel Corporation has a beta of 2.88, suggesting that its stock price is 188% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares United States Steel Corporation and SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| United States Steel Corporation | 0.24% | 6.50% | 1.67% |
| SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. | -9.52% | 14.02% | 5.44% |
Dividends
United States Steel Corporation pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. pays an annual dividend of $2.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.0%. United States Steel Corporation pays out 125.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. pays out -127.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Summary
United States Steel Corporation beats SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
United States Steel Corporation Company Profile
United States Steel Corporation is an integrated steel producer. The Company is engaged in producing flat-rolled and tubular products with production operations in North America and Europe. The Company operates through three segments: Flat-Rolled Products (Flat-Rolled), U. S. Steel Europe (USSE) and Tubular Products (Tubular). The Flat-Rolled segment includes the operating results of its integrated steel plants and equity investees in the United States involved in the production of slabs, rounds, strip mill plates, sheets and tin mill products, as well as all iron ore and coke production facilities in the United States. The USSE segment includes the operating results of U. S. Steel Kosice (USSK) and its integrated steel plant and coke production facilities in Slovakia. The Tubular segment includes the operating results of its tubular production facilities, primarily in the United States and equity investees in the United States and Brazil.
SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. Company Profile
SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. is engaged in the production of coke used in the blast furnace production of steel. As of December 31, 2016, the Company owned a 98% interest in Haverhill Coke Company LLC (Haverhill), Middletown Coke Company, LLC (Middletown), and Gateway Energy and Coke Company, LLC (Granite City). The Company’s segments include Domestic Coke, which consists of the Haverhill, Middletown and Granite City cokemaking and heat recovery operations located in Franklin Furnace, Ohio; Middletown, Ohio, and Granite City, Illinois, respectively, and Coal Logistics, which consists of the Company’s Convent Marine Terminal, Kanawha River Terminals, LLC and SunCoke Lake Terminal, LLC (Lake Terminal) coal handling and/or mixing service operations in Convent, Louisiana; Ceredo and Belle, West Virginia, and East Chicago, Indiana, respectively. It also provides coal handling and/or mixing services at its Coal Logistics terminals to steel, coke, electric utility and coal mining customers.
Receive News & Ratings for United States Steel Corporation Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for United States Steel Corporation and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
