Contrasting Toray Industries (OTCMKTS:TRYIY) and Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Toray Industries (OTCMKTS:TRYIY) and Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Toray Industries and Hawkins”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Toray Industries	$17.17 billion	0.61	$524.84 million	$0.70	19.77
Hawkins	$1.08 billion	2.66	$81.55 million	$3.91	35.31

Toray Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Hawkins. Toray Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hawkins, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Toray Industries	3.06%	4.22%	2.30%
Hawkins	7.53%	16.08%	8.35%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

69.7% of Hawkins shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Hawkins shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Toray Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Hawkins pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Toray Industries pays out 21.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hawkins pays out 19.4% 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. Hawkins has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years.

Risk & Volatility

Toray Industries has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hawkins has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Toray Industries and Hawkins, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Toray Industries	0	2	0	1	2.67
Hawkins	0	3	2	0	2.40

Hawkins has a consensus target price of $185.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.99%. Given Hawkins’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hawkins is more favorable than Toray Industries.

Summary

Hawkins beats Toray Industries on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Toray Industries

Toray Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, processes, and sells fibers and textiles, performance chemicals, carbon fiber composite materials, environment and engineering products, and life science products in Japan, China, North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers filament yarns, staple fibers, and spun yarns, as well as woven and knitted fabrics of nylon, polyester, acrylics, and others; non-woven fabrics; ultra-fine fibers; and apparel products. It also provides nylon, ABS, PBT, PPS, and other resins and molded products; polyolefin foam products; polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, and other films; processed film products; raw materials for synthetic fibers and other plastics; fine chemicals; electronic and information materials; and graphic materials. In addition, the company offers carbon fibers, carbon fiber composite materials, and molded products; analysis, physical evaluation, research, and other services; and pharmaceuticals, medical devices, etc. Further, it provides engineering services; condominiums; industrial equipment and machinery; IT-related equipment; water treatment membranes and related equipment; and materials for housing, building, and civil engineering applications. The company was formerly known as Toyo Rayon Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Toray Industries, Inc. in 1970. The company was incorporated in 1926 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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.