Reviewing Ryerson (NYSE:RYZ) and Richelieu Hardware (OTCMKTS:RHUHF)

Ryerson (NYSE:RYZ) and Richelieu Hardware (OTCMKTS:RHUHF) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Ryerson and Richelieu Hardware’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ryerson	-0.56%	-0.62%	-0.21%
Richelieu Hardware	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Ryerson pays an annual dividend of $0.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Richelieu Hardware pays an annual dividend of $0.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Ryerson pays out -60.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Richelieu Hardware pays out 22.3% 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. Ryerson is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Ryerson and Richelieu Hardware, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ryerson	1	2	0	0	1.67
Richelieu Hardware	0	0	0	0	0.00

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.8% of Ryerson shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.6% of Richelieu Hardware shares are held by institutional investors. 6.6% of Ryerson 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ryerson and Richelieu Hardware”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ryerson	$5.84 billion	0.23	-$56.40 million	($1.24)	-20.44
Richelieu Hardware	N/A	N/A	N/A	$2.47	10.23

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

Summary

Ryerson beats Richelieu Hardware on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ryerson

Ryerson Holding Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, processes and distributes industrial metals in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China. It offers a line of products in carbon steel, stainless steel, alloy steels, and aluminum, as well as nickel and red metals in various shapes and forms, including coils, sheets, rounds, hexagons, square and flat bars, plates, structural, and tubing. The company also provides various processing services, such as bending, beveling, blanking, blasting, burning, cutting-to-length, drilling, embossing, flattening, forming, grinding, laser cutting, machining, notching, painting, perforating, polishing, punching, rolling, sawing, scribing, shearing, slitting, stamping, tapping, threading, welding, or other techniques to process materials. It serves various industries, including commercial ground transportation, metal fabrication and machine shops, industrial machinery and equipment manufacturing, consumer durable equipment, HVAC manufacturing, construction equipment manufacturing, food processing and agricultural equipment manufacturing, and oil and gas. The company was founded in 1842 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Richelieu Hardware

Richelieu Hardware Ltd. manufactures, imports, and distributes specialty hardware and complementary products in Canada and the United States. The company's principal product categories include furniture, glass and building decorative, and functional hardware; lighting systems; finishing and decorating products; ergonomic workstation components; kitchen and closet storage solutions; sliding door systems; decorative and functional panels; high-pressure laminates; railing and balusters; floor protection products; and power tool accessories. It manufactures veneer sheets and edge banding products; various decorative moldings and components for the window and door industry; and custom products. The company serves kitchen and bathroom cabinet, storage and closet, home furnishing, and office furniture manufacturers; door and window manufacturers; residential and commercial woodworkers; and hardware retailers, such as renovation superstores. Richelieu Hardware Ltd. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.