ALB vs. IFF, CE, RPM, NEU, ASH, BCPC, FUL, KWR, IOSP, and SXT
Should you be buying Albemarle stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Albemarle include International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), Celanese (CE), RPM International (RPM), NewMarket (NEU), Ashland (ASH), Balchem (BCPC), H.B. Fuller (FUL), Quaker Chemical (KWR), Innospec (IOSP), and Sensient Technologies (SXT). These companies are all part of the "specialty chemicals" industry.
International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) and Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.
Albemarle has lower revenue, but higher earnings than International Flavors & Fragrances. International Flavors & Fragrances is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Albemarle, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
International Flavors & Fragrances presently has a consensus target price of $94.41, suggesting a potential downside of 1.84%. Albemarle has a consensus target price of $165.16, suggesting a potential upside of 34.72%. Given International Flavors & Fragrances' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Albemarle is more favorable than International Flavors & Fragrances.
Albemarle has a net margin of 4.02% compared to Albemarle's net margin of -22.01%. International Flavors & Fragrances' return on equity of 14.53% beat Albemarle's return on equity.
96.0% of International Flavors & Fragrances shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Albemarle shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of International Flavors & Fragrances shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Albemarle shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, International Flavors & Fragrances had 3 more articles in the media than Albemarle. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for International Flavors & Fragrances and 8 mentions for Albemarle. Albemarle's average media sentiment score of 0.88 beat International Flavors & Fragrances' score of 0.60 indicating that International Flavors & Fragrances is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Albemarle received 285 more outperform votes than International Flavors & Fragrances when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.39% of users gave Albemarle an outperform vote while only 59.92% of users gave International Flavors & Fragrances an outperform vote.
International Flavors & Fragrances has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albemarle has a beta of 1.65, indicating that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.
International Flavors & Fragrances pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. International Flavors & Fragrances pays out -16.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Albemarle pays out 58.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Albemarle has increased its dividend for 29 consecutive years. International Flavors & Fragrances is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Summary
Albemarle beats International Flavors & Fragrances on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ALB and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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