Reviewing Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) and Materion (NYSE:MTRN)

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) and Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) are both materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Materion and Agnico Eagle Mines, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Materion	0	1	3	1	3.00
Agnico Eagle Mines	0	5	12	0	2.71

Materion presently has a consensus price target of $310.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.86%. Agnico Eagle Mines has a consensus price target of $227.15, suggesting a potential upside of 23.85%. Given Agnico Eagle Mines’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Agnico Eagle Mines is more favorable than Materion.

Profitability

This table compares Materion and Agnico Eagle Mines’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Materion	4.29%	13.38%	6.98%
Agnico Eagle Mines	40.44%	22.04%	16.22%

Dividends

Materion pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Agnico Eagle Mines pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Materion pays out 13.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Agnico Eagle Mines pays out 15.4% 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. Materion has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Volatility & Risk

Materion has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agnico Eagle Mines has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Materion and Agnico Eagle Mines”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Materion	$1.79 billion	3.15	$74.82 million	$4.29	62.91
Agnico Eagle Mines	$11.91 billion	7.81	$4.46 billion	$11.69	15.69

Agnico Eagle Mines has higher revenue and earnings than Materion. Agnico Eagle Mines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Materion, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.6% of Materion shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.3% of Agnico Eagle Mines shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Materion shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Agnico Eagle Mines shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Agnico Eagle Mines beats Materion on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Materion

Materion Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces advanced engineered materials used in semiconductor, industrial, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, consumer electronics, and telecom and data center in the United States, Asia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Performance Materials, Electronic Materials, Precision Optics, and Other. The company provides advanced engineered solutions comprising beryllium and non-beryllium containing alloy systems and custom engineered parts in strip, bulk, rod, plate, bar, tube, and other customized shapes; engineering and product development services; alloyed metals, beryllium products, and beryllium hydroxide; precision strip, rod, and wire products, as well as engineered strip metal products; and ToughMet alloys and SupremEX aluminum silicon carbide metal matrix composite formulation products. It operates the bertrandite ore mine and refinery located in Utah that provides feedstock hydroxide for its beryllium businesses and external sale. In addition, it produces advanced chemicals, microelectronics packaging, precious metal, non-precious metal, and specialty metal products, including vapor deposition targets, frame lid assemblies, clad and precious metal pre-forms, high temperature braze materials, and ultra-pure wire. Further, the company designs and produces precision thin film coatings, optical filters, and assemblies. The company sells its products directly from its facilities, as well as through company-owned service centers, outside distributors, agents, direct sales offices, and independent sales representatives. The company was formerly known as Brush Engineered Materials Inc. and changed its name to Materion Corporation in March 2011. Materion Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.

About Agnico Eagle Mines

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, a gold mining company, exploration, development, and production of precious metals. It explores for gold. The company's mines are located in Canada, Australia, Finland and Mexico, with exploration and development activities in Canada, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Agnico Eagle Mines Limited was incorporated in 1953 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.