Reviewing Koppers (KOP) & Its Rivals

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) is one of 295 publicly-traded companies in the “Chemicals” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Koppers to related companies based on the strength of its profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Koppers and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Koppers	$1.89 billion	$56.00 million	-5.81
Koppers Competitors	$6.40 billion	$222.31 million	6.28

Koppers’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Koppers. Koppers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.7% of Koppers shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.4% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of Koppers shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are owned 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.

Dividends

Koppers pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Koppers pays out -7.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Chemicals” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.1% and pay out 104.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Koppers has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Risk & Volatility

Koppers has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Koppers’ peers have a beta of 0.93, indicating that their average share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Koppers and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Koppers	1	1	1	1	2.50
Koppers Competitors	3248	12212	14131	519	2.40

Koppers currently has a consensus price target of $55.00, indicating a potential upside of 84.18%. As a group, “Chemicals” companies have a potential upside of 8.73%. Given Koppers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Koppers is more favorable than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Koppers and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Koppers	-4.59%	14.98%	4.17%
Koppers Competitors	-59.14%	-0.41%	-1.37%

Summary

Koppers beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Koppers

Koppers Holdings Inc. provides treated wood products, wood preservation chemicals, and carbon compounds in the United States, Australasia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Railroad and Utility Products and Services (RUPS), Performance Chemicals (PC), and Carbon Materials and Chemicals (CMC) segments. The RUPS segment procures and treats crossties, switch ties, and various types of lumber used for railroad bridges and crossings. It also provides rail joint bars to join rails together for railroads; transmission and distribution poles for electric and telephone utilities; and pilings. This segment provides railroad services, such as engineering, design, repair, and inspection services for railroad bridges. The PC segment develops, manufactures, and markets copper-based wood preservatives, including micronized copper azole, micronized pigments, alkaline copper quaternary, amine copper azole, and chromated copper arsenate for decking, fencing, utility poles, construction lumber and timbers, and various agricultural uses; and supplies fire-retardant chemicals for pressure treatment of wood primarily in commercial construction. The CMC segment manufactures creosote for the treatment of wood or as a feedstock in the production of carbon black; carbon pitch, a raw material used in the production of aluminum and steel; naphthalene for use as a feedstock in the production of phthalic anhydride and as a surfactant in the production of concrete; phthalic anhydride for the production of plasticizers, polyester resins, and alkyd paints; and carbon black feedstock for use in the production of carbon black. It serves the railroad, specialty chemical, utility, residential lumber, agriculture, aluminum, steel, rubber, and construction sectors. Koppers Holdings Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.