Head-To-Head Review: Lsb Industries (NYSE:LXU) and Tosoh (OTCMKTS:TOSCF)

Lsb Industries (NYSE:LXU) and Tosoh (OTCMKTS:TOSCF) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Lsb Industries and Tosoh, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lsb Industries	0	4	1	0	2.20
Tosoh	0	0	0	0	0.00

Lsb Industries currently has a consensus price target of $11.94, indicating a potential downside of 18.30%. Given Lsb Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lsb Industries is more favorable than Tosoh.

Volatility & Risk

Lsb Industries has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tosoh has a beta of 0.24, indicating that its stock price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

73.7% of Lsb Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.3% of Lsb Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Lsb Industries and Tosoh”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lsb Industries	$615.21 million	1.71	$24.61 million	$0.34	42.98
Tosoh	$6.98 billion	0.78	$382.82 million	$0.72	23.61

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

Profitability

This table compares Lsb Industries and Tosoh’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lsb Industries	4.00%	4.90%	2.13%
Tosoh	3.29%	5.95%	4.02%

Summary

Lsb Industries beats Tosoh on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lsb Industries

LSB Industries, Inc. engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of chemical products. The company provides nitrogen-based fertilizers, such as ammonia, fertilizer grade high density ammonium nitrate (HDAN), and urea ammonia nitrate for fertilizer for corn, pastures, and other crops, as well as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) fertilizer blends application. It also offers high purity and commercial grade ammonia, high purity ammonium nitrate, sulfuric acids, mixed nitrating acids, carbon dioxide, and diesel exhaust fluids, as well as concentrated, and blended and regular nitric acids for various applications, including semiconductor, nylon, and polyurethane intermediates, ammonium nitrate, and metal processing; chemical feedstocks, emissions abatement, water treatments, and refrigerants; pulp and paper, aluminum, water treatment, metals, and vanadium processing; abatement for diesel vehicles; and food refrigeration, dry ice, and enhanced oil recovery. In addition, the company provides industrial grade and low density ammonium nitrate, and ammonium nitrate for explosives mining, quarries, and other blasting activities. It sells its products through distributors, as well as directly to end customers in the United States and other parts of North America. The company serves to the agricultural, industrial, and mining markets. LSB Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About Tosoh

Tosoh Corporation manufactures and sells basic chemicals, petrochemicals, specialty products, and fine chemicals worldwide. It operates through four segments: Petrochemical, Chlor-Alkali, Specialty, and Engineering. The company provides advance materials, including battery, fabricated quartzware, silica glass, thin film depositions, zeolites for catalysts and molecular sieves, zirconia injection mold components and compounds, zirconia grinding and dispersion media, and zirconia fine beads and powders. It also offers chromatographic columns, and media and diagnostic systems; clinical diagnostic systems; Portland cement and blast-furnace slag cement; and caustic soda, vinyl chloride monomer, calcium hypochlorite, and sodium bicarbonate. In addition, the company provides ethylene, propylene, C4 fraction, tertiary butyl alcohol, cumene, and aromatic compounds; and ethyleneamines, bromine, hydrobromic acids, flame retardants, non-aqueous solvents, chelating agents, ethylene dichloride, and sodium styrenesulfonate. Further, it offers polymers, such as ethylene vinyl-acetate copolymers, adhesive polymers, low and high-density polyethylene products, synthetic rubbers, functional polymers, and polyvinyl chloride pastes; and polyurethanes (PU), including methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, toluene diisocyanate, hexamethylene diisocyanate, adhesives, coating resins, elastomers, polyisocyanates for PU paints, and polyols. The company manufactures and sells water treatment systems; and engages in the construction and repair businesses. It serves chemical and petrochemical, construction, automotive, consumer electronics, information technology, bioscience, and environmental markets. The company was incorporated in 1935 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.