Comparing Tokuyama (OTCMKTS:TKYMY) & Shin-Etsu Chemical (OTCMKTS:SHECY)

Tokuyama (OTCMKTS:TKYMY) and Shin-Etsu Chemical (OTCMKTS:SHECY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Tokuyama and Shin-Etsu Chemical, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tokuyama	0	0	0	0	0.00
Shin-Etsu Chemical	0	1	0	0	2.00

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of Shin-Etsu Chemical shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Tokuyama pays an annual dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Shin-Etsu Chemical pays an annual dividend of $0.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Tokuyama pays out 22.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Shin-Etsu Chemical pays out 26.7% 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. Tokuyama is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Tokuyama and Shin-Etsu Chemical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tokuyama	7.42%	9.05%	5.00%
Shin-Etsu Chemical	18.96%	10.75%	8.93%

Volatility & Risk

Tokuyama has a beta of 0.16, meaning that its share price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shin-Etsu Chemical has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Tokuyama and Shin-Etsu Chemical”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tokuyama	$2.25 billion	0.76	$154.35 million	$1.17	10.15
Shin-Etsu Chemical	$16.82 billion	5.17	$3.56 billion	$0.86	25.47

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

Summary

Shin-Etsu Chemical beats Tokuyama on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tokuyama

Tokuyama Corporation produces and sells various chemical products in Japan. The company operates through six segments: Chemicals, Cement, Electronics and Advanced Materials, Life Science, Eco Business, and Others. The Chemicals segment offers caustic soda, soda ash, calcium chloride, sodium silicate cullet, sodium bicarbonate, purified, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride resin, propylene oxide, methylene chloride, and chloroform. The Cement segment provides cement, ready-mixed concrete, and cement-type stabilizer, as well as engages in the resource recycling business. The Electronic and Advanced Materials segment provides polycrystalline silicon; fumed silica and tetrachlorosilane; aluminum nitride; high-purity chemicals for electronics manufacturing and photoresist developer; and isopropyl alcohol. The Life Science segment provides medical diagnosis systems, dental materials and equipment, pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates, plastic lens-related materials for glasses, and microporous film. The Eco Business segment offers plastic window sashes, ion exchange membranes, as well as engages in waste gypsum board recycling activity. The company was formerly known as Tokuyama Soda Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Tokuyama Corporation in April 1994. Tokuyama Corporation was incorporated in 1918 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Shin-Etsu Chemical

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. provides infrastructure, electronics, and functional materials in Japan. It is also involved in processing and specialized related services. The company operates through Infrastructure Materials; Electronics Materials; Functional Materials; and Processing and Specialized Services segments. In addition, it offers cellulose derivatives, synthetic pheromones, aroma chemicals, dielectric and LED/ semiconductor materials, silanes, photoresists, chlorides, caustic soda, liquid fluoroelastomers, polyvinyl chloride and vinyl acetate resin, silicones, and silicones processed goods. Further, the company offers pellicles, photomask blanks, synthetic quartz/ quartz cloth, pyrolytic boron nitride, LIB anode material, and silicon metal. Additionally, it provides rare earth magnets, compound semiconductors, and oxide single crystals. The company was formerly known as Shin-Etsu Nitrogen Fertilizer Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. in 1940. Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 1926 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.