Voestalpine (OTCMKTS:VLPNY – Get Free Report) and Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Free Report) are both materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
80.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Voestalpine and Freeport-McMoRan”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Voestalpine | $17.47 billion | 0.49 | $492.57 million | $0.70 | 14.24 |
| Freeport-McMoRan | $25.87 billion | 4.04 | $2.20 billion | $2.03 | 35.84 |
Freeport-McMoRan has higher revenue and earnings than Voestalpine. Voestalpine is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Freeport-McMoRan, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility & Risk
Voestalpine has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Freeport-McMoRan has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
Voestalpine pays an annual dividend of $0.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Freeport-McMoRan pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Voestalpine pays out 12.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Freeport-McMoRan pays out 14.8% 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. Voestalpine is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Profitability
This table compares Voestalpine and Freeport-McMoRan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Voestalpine | 3.39% | 6.66% | 3.30% |
| Freeport-McMoRan | 11.39% | 10.63% | 5.69% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Voestalpine and Freeport-McMoRan, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Voestalpine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2.33 |
| Freeport-McMoRan | 0 | 4 | 20 | 1 | 2.88 |
Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus target price of $74.67, indicating a potential upside of 2.63%. Given Freeport-McMoRan’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Freeport-McMoRan is more favorable than Voestalpine.
Summary
Freeport-McMoRan beats Voestalpine on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Voestalpine
Voestalpine AG processes, develops, manufactures, and sells steel products in Austria, European Union, and internationally. The company operates through five segments: Steel, High Performance Metals, Metal Engineering, Metal Forming, and Other. The Steel division produces hot and cold-rolled steel strips, as well as electrogalvanized, hot-dip galvanized, and organically coated steel strips; and heavy plates for the energy sector, as well as turbine casings for automotive, white goods/consumer goods, building/construction, energy, mechanical engineering, and others. The High Performance Metals segment offers special alloys for the oil and natural gas, aerospace, and energy engineering industries; tool manufacturing, component processing, heat treatment, and coating services; and warehousing and preprocessing of special steels, as well as services, including logistics, distribution, and processing for the oil and natural gas industries for automotive, white goods/consumer goods, building/construction, aerospace, mechanical engineering, and others. The Metal Engineering division offers rails and turnout products, rod and drawn wires, seamless tubes, and welding consumables and machinery; rails and digital monitoring systems; and services for rail infrastructure. This segment serves railway systems, automotive, white goods/consumer goods, building/construction, energy, mechanical engineering, and others. The Metal Forming division manufactures special tubes and sections, and precision strip steel products, as well as pre-finished system components made from pressed, stamped, and roll-profiled parts for use in automotive, white goods/consumer goods, building/construction, energy, mechanical engineering, and others. The company is headquartered in Linz, Austria.
About Freeport-McMoRan
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
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