Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Free Report) and Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD – Get Free Report) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.
Risk & Volatility
Albemarle has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Albemarle and Air Products and Chemicals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Albemarle | 1 | 11 | 14 | 1 | 2.56 |
| Air Products and Chemicals | 0 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 2.71 |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Albemarle and Air Products and Chemicals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Albemarle | $5.49 billion | 3.46 | -$510.63 million | ($3.41) | -47.26 |
| Air Products and Chemicals | $12.46 billion | 5.10 | -$394.50 million | $9.45 | 30.23 |
Air Products and Chemicals has higher revenue and earnings than Albemarle. Albemarle is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Air Products and Chemicals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
92.9% of Albemarle shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Albemarle shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Albemarle and Air Products and Chemicals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Albemarle | -5.00% | 5.22% | 2.51% |
| Air Products and Chemicals | 16.91% | 16.11% | 6.92% |
Dividends
Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Air Products and Chemicals pays an annual dividend of $7.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Albemarle pays out -47.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Air Products and Chemicals pays out 76.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Albemarle has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Air Products and Chemicals has raised its dividend for 43 consecutive years. Air Products and Chemicals is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
Air Products and Chemicals beats Albemarle on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Albemarle
Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Energy Storage, Specialties and Ketjen. The Energy Storage segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride; technical services for the handling and use of reactive lithium products; and lithium-containing by-products recycling services. The Specialties segment provides bromine-based specialty chemicals, including elemental bromine, alkyl and inorganic bromides, brominated powdered activated carbon, and other bromine fine chemicals; lithium specialties, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride; develops and manufactures cesium products for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries; and zirconium, barium, and titanium products for pyrotechnical applications that include airbag initiators. The Ketjen segment offers clean fuels technologies (CFT), which is composed of hydroprocessing catalysts (HPC) together with isomerization and akylation catalysts; fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts and additives; and performance catalyst solutions (PCS), which is composed of organometallics and curatives. The company serves the energy storage, petroleum refining, consumer electronics, construction, automotive, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, and crop protection markets. Albemarle Corporation was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
About Air Products and Chemicals
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, equipment, and related services in the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, India, and internationally. The company produces atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, and argon; process gases, such as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and syngas; and specialty gases for customers in various industries, including refining, chemical, manufacturing, electronics, energy production, medical, food, and metals. It also designs and manufactures equipment for air separation, hydrocarbon recovery and purification, natural gas liquefaction, and liquid helium and liquid hydrogen transport and storage. The company was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
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