FMC (NYSE:FMC – Get Free Report) and Avient (NYSE:AVNT – Get Free Report) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for FMC and Avient, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| FMC | 3 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 2.07 |
| Avient | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2.50 |
FMC presently has a consensus price target of $14.38, indicating a potential upside of 55.61%. Avient has a consensus price target of $46.71, indicating a potential upside of 13.35%. Given FMC’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe FMC is more favorable than Avient.
Volatility & Risk
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares FMC and Avient”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| FMC | $3.47 billion | 0.33 | -$2.24 billion | ($22.00) | -0.42 |
| Avient | $3.26 billion | 1.16 | $81.90 million | $1.85 | 22.28 |
Avient has lower revenue, but higher earnings than FMC. FMC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Avient, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares FMC and Avient’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| FMC | -84.83% | 11.35% | 2.65% |
| Avient | 5.10% | 11.64% | 4.67% |
Dividends
FMC pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Avient pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. FMC pays out -1.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Avient pays out 59.5% 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. Avient has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. FMC is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
91.9% of FMC shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Avient shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of FMC shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Avient shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Avient beats FMC on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About FMC
FMC Corporation, an agricultural sciences company, provides crop protection, plant health, and professional pest and turf management products. It develops, markets, and sells crop protection chemicals that includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides; and biologicals, crop nutrition, and seed treatment products, which are used in agriculture to enhance crop yield and quality by controlling a range of insects, weeds, and diseases, as well as in non-agricultural markets for pest control. The company markets its products through its own sales organization and through alliance partners, independent distributors, and sales representatives. It operates in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
About Avient
Avient Corporation operates as a formulator of material solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and Asia. It operates in two segments, Color, Additives and Inks; and Specialty Engineered Materials. The Color, Additives and Inks segment offers custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, and specialty inks; custom-formulated liquid system, such as polyester, vinyl, natural rubber and latex, polyurethane, and silicone; and proprietary inks. Its products are used in medical and pharmaceutical devices, food packaging, personal care and cosmetics, transportation, building products, wire and cable, recreational and athletic apparel, construction and filtration, outdoor furniture, healthcare, textiles and appliances, and industrial markets. The Specialty Engineered Materials segment provides specialty polymer formulations, services, and solutions for designers, assemblers, and processors of thermoplastic materials. It sells its products through direct sales personnel, distributors, and commissioned sales agents. The company was formerly known as PolyOne Corporation and changed its name to Avient Corporation in June 2020. Avient Corporation was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Avon Lake, Ohio.
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