Contrasting Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) & FUCHS (OTCMKTS:FUPBY)

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) and FUCHS (OTCMKTS:FUPBY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Ecovyst and FUCHS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ecovyst	-1.91%	7.69%	3.00%
FUCHS	8.16%	15.56%	11.09%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

86.7% of Ecovyst shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Ecovyst shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ecovyst and FUCHS”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ecovyst	$704.50 million	1.32	-$6.65 million	($0.12)	-67.50
FUCHS	$3.81 billion	1.60	$326.79 million	$0.61	17.96

FUCHS has higher revenue and earnings than Ecovyst. Ecovyst is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FUCHS, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Ecovyst and FUCHS, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ecovyst	1	0	3	0	2.50
FUCHS	1	0	0	0	1.00

Ecovyst currently has a consensus price target of $11.67, suggesting a potential upside of 44.03%. Given Ecovyst’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ecovyst is more favorable than FUCHS.

Risk & Volatility

Ecovyst has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FUCHS has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

FUCHS beats Ecovyst on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ecovyst

Ecovyst Inc. offers specialty catalysts and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Ecoservices and Advanced Materials & Catalysts. The Ecoservices segment provides sulfuric acid recycling services and end-to-end logistics for production of alkylate for refineries; and virgin sulfuric acid for mining, water treatment, and industrial applications. The Advanced Materials & Catalysts segment offers advanced materials and specialty catalyst products and process solutions to producers and licensors of polyethylene and advanced silicas. This segment also supplies specialty zeolites and zeolite-based catalysts to customers for refining of oil primarily hydrocracking catalyst and dewaxing, sustainable fuels, and emission control systems for both on-road and non-road diesel engines. The company was formerly known as PQ Group Holdings Inc. and changed its name to Ecovyst Inc. in August 2021. Ecovyst Inc. was founded in 1831 and is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

About FUCHS

Fuchs SE develops, produces, and sells lubricants and related specialties in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and North and South America. The company offers automotive lubricants, such as biodegradable lubricants, central and mobile hydraulic oils, dry coatings, engine and gear oils, motorcycle/two wheelers, and service fluids, as well as various oils for agriculture sector. It also provides industrial lubricants, including chain lubricants, dry coatings, gear and hydraulic oils, machine oils, open gear lubricants, rapidly biodegradable lubricants, compressor and refrigeration oils, release agents, slideways oils, fluids and industrial oils, textile machine oils, and turbine oils. In addition, the company offers lubricating greases comprising assembly pastes, biodegradable greases, food grade greases, multi-purpose/long-life greases, pastes for extreme temperatures, perfluorinated pastes, and wheel bearing greases, as well as gear boxes, and greases for central lubricating system, extreme temperature, machine tools, plain and roller bearings, rail vehicles, spray cans or rattle cans, and solid lubricants. Further, it provides metal processing lubricants consisting of cleaners, corrosion preventives, cutting and grinding, forming lubricants, and quenching oils; and special application lubricants for application equipment, chain lubrication, dry coatings, food and beverage, gears, sugar processing, railway traffic, plain and roller bearings, glass manufacturing process, hot forming, maintenance, open gears, pastes, release agents, other specialties, special greases, and wind power plants. Additionally, the company offers open gear and surface coating services. The company was formerly known as Fuchs Petrolub SE and changed its name to Fuchs SE in July 2023. Fuchs SE was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Mannheim, Germany.