Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) and Chemours (NYSE:CC) Financial Contrast

Chemours (NYSE:CC) and Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) are both mid-cap materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

76.3% of Chemours shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.5% of Quaker Houghton shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Chemours shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Quaker Houghton shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares Chemours and Quaker Houghton’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chemours	-5.00%	60.64%	1.48%
Quaker Houghton	4.80%	9.90%	4.85%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Chemours and Quaker Houghton, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chemours	1	9	3	0	2.15
Quaker Houghton	0	2	4	0	2.67

Chemours presently has a consensus price target of $17.73, indicating a potential upside of 30.73%. Quaker Houghton has a consensus price target of $188.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.48%. Given Chemours’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chemours is more favorable than Quaker Houghton.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Chemours and Quaker Houghton”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chemours	$5.81 billion	0.35	-$386.00 million	($1.91)	-7.10
Quaker Houghton	$1.89 billion	1.38	-$2.49 million	$5.59	27.02

Quaker Houghton has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Chemours. Chemours is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Quaker Houghton, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Chemours has a beta of 1.41, suggesting that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Quaker Houghton has a beta of 1.4, suggesting that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Chemours pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Quaker Houghton pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Chemours pays out -18.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Quaker Houghton pays out 37.9% 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. Quaker Houghton has increased its dividend for 17 consecutive years. Chemours is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Quaker Houghton beats Chemours on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chemours

The Chemours Company provides performance chemicals in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It operates through three segments: Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials. The Titanium Technologies segment provides TiO2 pigment under the Ti-Pure brand for delivering whiteness, brightness, opacity, durability, efficiency, and protection in various of applications, such as architectural and industrial coatings, flexible and rigid plastic packaging, polyvinylchloride, laminate papers used for furniture and building materials, coated paper, and coated paperboard used for packaging. The Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment offers of refrigerants, thermal management solutions, propellants, foam blowing agents, and specialty solvents. The Advanced Performance Materials segment products portfolio includes various industrial resins, specialty products, membranes, and coatings for electronics, communications, transportation, wire and cable, energy, oil and gas, and medical, and other applications under the eflon, Viton, Krytox, and Nafion brands. The company sells its products through direct and indirect channels, as well as through a network of resellers and distributors. The Chemours Company was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.

About Quaker Houghton

Quaker Chemical Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets various formulated specialty chemical products for a range of heavy industrial and manufacturing applications in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It offers metal removal fluids, cleaning fluids, corrosion inhibitors, metal drawing and forming fluids, die-cast mold releases, heat treatment and quenchants, metal forging fluids, hydraulic fluids, specialty greases, offshore sub-sea energy control fluids, rolling lubricants, rod and wire drawing fluids, and surface treatment chemicals. The company also provides chemical management services. It serves steel, aluminum, automotive, aerospace, offshore, container, mining, and metalworking companies. The company was founded in 1918 and is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.