Reviewing Nucor (NYSE:NUE) and ThyssenKrupp (OTCMKTS:TKAMY)

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) and ThyssenKrupp (OTCMKTS:TKAMY) are both basic 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.

Profitability

This table compares Nucor and ThyssenKrupp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nucor	5.37%	8.26%	5.16%
ThyssenKrupp	1.83%	9.08%	3.29%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Nucor and ThyssenKrupp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nucor	0	3	8	0	2.73
ThyssenKrupp	2	2	2	1	2.29

Nucor presently has a consensus target price of $187.90, indicating a potential upside of 13.29%. Given Nucor’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Nucor is more favorable than ThyssenKrupp.

Dividends

Nucor pays an annual dividend of $2.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. ThyssenKrupp pays an annual dividend of $0.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Nucor pays out 29.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ThyssenKrupp pays out 10.2% 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. Nucor has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years. Nucor is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk & Volatility

Nucor has a beta of 1.83, meaning that its share price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ThyssenKrupp has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nucor and ThyssenKrupp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nucor	$32.49 billion	1.16	$1.74 billion	$7.54	22.00
ThyssenKrupp	$36.31 billion	0.16	$514.57 million	$1.08	8.72

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

76.5% of Nucor shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Nucor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Nucor beats ThyssenKrupp on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nucor

Nucor Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. It operates in three segments: steel mills, steel products, and raw materials. The Steel Mills segment produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet steel products; plate steel products; wide-flange beams, beam blanks, and H-piling and sheet piling structural steel products; bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and engineered special bar quality products; and engages in the steel trading and rebar distribution businesses. This segment sells its products to steel service centers, fabricators, and manufacturers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Steel Products segment offers steel joists and joist girders, steel decks, and galvanized torque tubes for used in solar arrays, hollow structural section steel tubing, electrical conduit, fabricated concrete reinforcing steel, cold finished steel, steel fasteners, steel grating and expanded metal, wire and wire mesh, metal building systems, insulated metal panels, steel racking, overhead doors, and utility towers and structures for communications and energy transmission. This segment is also involved in the piling distribution business. The Raw Materials segment produces direct reduced iron (DRI); brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, hot briquetted iron, and DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal; and engages in the natural gas production and industrial gas business. This segment sells its ferrous scrap to electric arc furnace steel mills and foundries for manufacturing process; and nonferrous scrap metal to aluminum can producers, secondary aluminum smelters, steel mills and other processors, and consumers of various nonferrous metals. It markets its products through in-house sales force; and internal distribution and trading companies. Nucor Corporation was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About ThyssenKrupp

thyssenkrupp AG operates as an industrial and technology company in Germany and internationally. It operates through five segments: Automotive Technology, Decarbon Technologies, Materials Services, Steel Europe, and Marine Systems. The Automotive Technology segment offers components, systems, and automation solutions for vehicle manufacturing, such as axle assembly, body in white, camshafts and electric engine components, dampers, dies, springs and stabilizers, crankshafts and conrods, steering, and undercarriages. The Decarbon Technologies segment provides slewing bearings and rings, green ammonia and methanol, chemical and cement plants, high pressure processing, and refinery services, as well as green hydrogen. The Marine System segment manufactures submarines, naval services, and naval surface vessels. The Material Services segment offers 3D-printing/additive manufacturing, alloys, infrastructure project and services, industrial minerals, logistics services, metals, nonferrous metals, plastics, rolled steel, special ores, and stainless steel. The Steel Europe segment manufactures composite materials, electrical steel, hot strips, organic coated strips and sheet, packaging steel, precision steel strip, and sheet and coated products. thyssenkrupp AG was founded in 1811 and is headquartered in Essen, Germany.