Head to Head Contrast: Cemex (NYSE:CX) vs. United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM)

Cemex (NYSE:CX) and United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) are both materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Cemex and United States Lime & Minerals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cemex	1	3	7	0	2.55
United States Lime & Minerals	0	0	2	0	3.00

Cemex currently has a consensus target price of $13.92, suggesting a potential upside of 29.42%. United States Lime & Minerals has a consensus target price of $131.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.92%. Given Cemex’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Cemex is more favorable than United States Lime & Minerals.

Dividends

Cemex pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. United States Lime & Minerals pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Cemex pays out 27.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United States Lime & Minerals pays out 5.2% 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. United States Lime & Minerals has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

83.0% of Cemex shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.1% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Cemex shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cemex and United States Lime & Minerals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cemex	$16.13 billion	0.97	$960.00 million	$0.44	24.44
United States Lime & Minerals	$372.73 million	9.09	$134.27 million	$4.64	25.45

Cemex has higher revenue and earnings than United States Lime & Minerals. Cemex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United States Lime & Minerals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Cemex and United States Lime & Minerals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cemex	3.60%	5.18%	2.43%
United States Lime & Minerals	35.08%	19.65%	18.18%

Risk & Volatility

Cemex has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United States Lime & Minerals has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United States Lime & Minerals beats Cemex on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cemex

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, distributes, and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, urbanization solutions, and other construction materials and services worldwide. The company offers gray ordinary portland, white portland, oil-well, and blended cement products; mortar; and standard ready-mix, architectural and decorative, rapid-setting, fiber-reinforced, fluid-fill, roller-compacted, self-consolidating, pervious, and antibacterial, and other concrete products. It also provides crushed stone, sand, gravel, and recycled concrete products; performance materials, such as admixtures, mortars, special mortars, and asphalt; and waste management services comprising municipal and industrial, construction, demolition and excavation, and alternative raw materials. In addition, the company construction related services, including logistics and transportation, retail, pavement services, design and engineering, and others; and industrial construction products consist of precast components, 2D panels, 3D modules, and complete structures. CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico.

About United States Lime & Minerals

United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of lime and limestone products. Its products include High Calcium Quicklime, Hydrated Lime, Lime Kiln Dust, Lime Slurry, and High Calcium Limestone. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.