Analyzing Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) and Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA)

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) and Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Axalta Coating Systems and Albemarle”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Axalta Coating Systems	$5.12 billion	1.42	$378.00 million	$1.62	20.98
Albemarle	$5.14 billion	2.09	-$510.63 million	$0.27	337.04

Axalta Coating Systems has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Albemarle. Axalta Coating Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Albemarle, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Axalta Coating Systems and Albemarle, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Axalta Coating Systems	0	8	5	0	2.38
Albemarle	3	7	15	0	2.48

Axalta Coating Systems presently has a consensus target price of $38.55, indicating a potential upside of 13.42%. Albemarle has a consensus target price of $179.41, indicating a potential upside of 97.15%. Given Albemarle’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Albemarle is more favorable than Axalta Coating Systems.

Risk and Volatility

Axalta Coating Systems has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albemarle has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Axalta Coating Systems and Albemarle’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Axalta Coating Systems	6.46%	21.28%	7.02%
Albemarle	3.09%	10.96%	5.39%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.3% of Axalta Coating Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Albemarle shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Axalta Coating Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Albemarle shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

About Axalta Coating Systems

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., through its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes high-performance coatings systems in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Mobility Coatings. It also offers water and solvent-borne products and systems to repair damaged vehicles for independent body shops, multi-shop operators, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) dealership body shops. In addition, the company provides functional and decorative liquid, and powder coatings used in various industrial applications, including building materials, cabinet, wood and luxury vinyl flooring and furniture market under the Voltatex, AquaEC, Durapon, Hydropon, UNRIVALED, Ceranamel, Industrial, Corlar Industrial, Tufcote, Imron Industrial, Alesta, Teodur, Nap-Gard, Abcite, and Plascoat brands for powder coatings. Further, it develops and supplies electrocoat, primer, the basecoat, and clearcoat products for OEMs of light and commercial vehicles; and coatings systems for various commercial applications, including HDT, MDT, bus, and rail under the Imron, Imron Elite, Centari, Rival, Corlar epoxy undercoats, and AquaEC brands. The company offers products under the Audurra, Abcite, Alesta, AquaEC, Centari, Ceranamel, Challenger, Chemophan, ColorNet, Cromax, Cromax Mosaic, Durapon 70, Duxone, Harmonized Coating Technologies, Imron ExcelPro, Lutophen, Nason, Spies Hecker, Standox, Stollaquid, Syntopal, Syrox, Raptor, U-POL, and Vermeera brand names. The company was formerly known as Axalta Coating Systems Bermuda Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. in August 2014. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.

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.