Financial Review: Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) vs. Elementis (OTCMKTS:ELMTY)

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) and Elementis (OTCMKTS:ELMTY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

69.7% of Hawkins shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Hawkins shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Hawkins and Elementis”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hawkins	$1.06 billion	2.93	$84.35 million	$3.95	37.68
Elementis	$597.50 million	2.34	-$45.50 million	N/A	N/A

Hawkins has higher revenue and earnings than Elementis.

Risk & Volatility

Hawkins has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elementis has a beta of 0.11, suggesting that its stock price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Hawkins pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Elementis pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Hawkins pays out 19.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hawkins has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Hawkins and Elementis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hawkins	7.75%	16.85%	8.93%
Elementis	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Hawkins and Elementis, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hawkins	0	3	2	0	2.40
Elementis	0	0	0	0	0.00

Hawkins presently has a consensus target price of $162.50, suggesting a potential upside of 9.18%. Given Hawkins’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Hawkins is more favorable than Elementis.

Summary

Hawkins beats Elementis on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hawkins

Hawkins, Inc. operates as a specialty chemical and ingredients company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Water Treatment, and Health and Nutrition. The Industrial segment offers industrial chemicals, products, and services to agriculture, chemical processing, electronics, energy, food, pharmaceutical, and plating industries. This segment manufactures sodium hypochlorite and agricultural products, as well as various food-grade and pharmaceutical products, such as liquid phosphates, lactates, other blended products, and agricultural products; and receives, stores, and distributes various chemicals comprising liquid caustic soda, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, urea, phosphoric acid, aqua ammonia, and potassium hydroxide. It also repackages water treatment chemicals and bulk industrial chemicals; and performs custom blending of chemicals. The Water Treatment segment provides chemicals, products, equipment, services, and solutions for potable water, municipal and industrial wastewater, industrial process water, non-residential swimming pool water, and agriculture water. The Health and Nutrition segment offers ingredient distribution, processing, and formulation solutions to manufacturers of nutraceutical, functional food and beverage, personal care, dietary supplement and other nutritional food, and health and wellness products. Its products portfolio includes minerals, vitamins and amino acids, excipients, joint products, botanicals and herbs, sweeteners, and enzymes. Hawkins, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Roseville, Minnesota.

About Elementis

Elementis plc operates as a specialty chemical company in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, North America, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Performance Specialties and Personal Care. The Performance Specialties segment engages in the production of rheological modifiers and additives for decorative and industrial coatings; and production and supply of talc for use in plastics, coatings, technical ceramics, and paper sectors. The Personal Care segment provides rheological modifiers and compounded products, including active ingredients for antiperspirants (AP) deodorants for personal care manufacturers. The company offers personal care products for antiperspirants, color cosmetics, and skin care applications; and performance specialties products for architectural coatings, adhesives, sealants and construction additives, and talc applications. Elementis plc was founded in 1844 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.