Critical Comparison: Mitsui & Co. (MITSY) & Its Peers

Mitsui & Co. (OTCMKTS:MITSY) is one of 159 publicly-traded companies in the “Trading Companies & Distributors” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Mitsui & Co. to similar businesses based on the strength of its risk, dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Mitsui & Co. and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mitsui & Co.	$92.97 billion	$5.50 billion	15.46
Mitsui & Co. Competitors	$6.39 billion	$355.23 million	24.08

Mitsui & Co. has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Mitsui & Co. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Volatility and Risk

Mitsui & Co. has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mitsui & Co.’s peers have a beta of 1.28, meaning that their average share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Mitsui & Co. and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mitsui & Co.	6.22%	10.56%	4.72%
Mitsui & Co. Competitors	2.85%	-34.21%	3.61%

Dividends

Mitsui & Co. pays an annual dividend of $11.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Mitsui & Co. pays out 30.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.9% and pay out 36.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

50.8% of shares of all “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Mitsui & Co. shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.7% of shares of all “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Mitsui & Co. and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mitsui & Co.	0	1	0	0	2.00
Mitsui & Co. Competitors	1405	4858	6654	224	2.43

As a group, “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies have a potential upside of 4.34%. Given Mitsui & Co.’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Mitsui & Co. has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

Mitsui & Co. peers beat Mitsui & Co. on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Mitsui & Co.

Mitsui & Co., Ltd. operates as an trading and investment company worldwide. The company engages in the manufacture and sale of steel products; steel processing, maintenance, and recycling activities; investment, development, and trading of mineral and metal resources, as well as resource recycling and industrial developing solutions; and upstream development, logistics, and trading of energy resources, such as natural gas/LNG, oil, coal, and uranium. It also offers power, gas, water, rail, and logistics systems; sales, financing, lease, transportation, and logistics services; and invests in plants, offshore energy development, ships, aviation, space, railways, and automotives, as well as machinery for mining, construction, and industrial use. In addition, the company provides basic chemicals and inorganic raw materials, functional materials, electronic materials, specialty chemicals, housing and lifestyle materials, agri-inputs, animal/human nutrition, and health products; and logistics infrastructures services, including tank terminal operation, as well as plastic recycling and next-generation energy, such as hydrogen and ammonia and forest resources businesses. Further, it engages in the food resources and products, merchandising, retail, fashion and textiles, wellness, healthcare, pharma, hospitality, and human capital businesses. Additionally, it is involved in the ICT, finance, real estate, and logistics businesses. The company was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Mitsui E&P Italia B operates as a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.