Financial Comparison: Lsb Industries (NYSE:LXU) vs. Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) and Lsb Industries (NYSE:LXU) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, risk, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Ecolab and Lsb Industries, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ecolab	0	3	19	1	2.91
Lsb Industries	0	4	1	0	2.20

Ecolab presently has a consensus target price of $324.50, indicating a potential upside of 12.43%. Lsb Industries has a consensus target price of $14.67, indicating a potential upside of 37.99%. Given Lsb Industries’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lsb Industries is more favorable than Ecolab.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

74.9% of Ecolab shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.7% of Lsb Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ecolab shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Lsb Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ecolab	12.57%	22.72%	8.71%
Lsb Industries	5.58%	6.98%	3.10%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ecolab and Lsb Industries”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ecolab	$16.84 billion	4.80	$2.08 billion	$7.45	38.74
Lsb Industries	$658.06 million	1.16	$24.61 million	$0.50	21.26

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

Risk and Volatility

Ecolab has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lsb Industries has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ecolab beats Lsb Industries on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc. provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries. Its Global Institutional & Specialty segment provides specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the foodservice, hospitality, lodging, government and education, and retail industries. The Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segment offers specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the healthcare, personal care, and pharmaceutical industries, such as infection prevention and surgical solutions, and end-to-end cleaning and contamination control solutions under the Ecolab, Microtek, and Anios brand names. In addition, the company provides pest elimination services to detect, eliminate, and prevent pests, such as rodents and insects in restaurants, food and beverage processors, hotels, grocery operations, and other commercial segments including education, life sciences, and healthcare customers. Further, it offers colloidal silica for binding and polishing applications in semiconductor, catalyst, and aerospace component manufacturing, as well as chemical industries; and products and services that manage wash process through custom designed programs, premium products, dispensing equipment, water and energy management, and reduction, as well as real time data management. It sells its products through field sales and corporate account personnel, distributors, and dealers. Ecolab Inc. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

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.