Analyzing Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) and Chemours (NYSE:CC)

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) and Chemours (NYSE:CC) are both mid-cap materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Quaker Houghton and Chemours, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Quaker Houghton	0	2	4	0	2.67
Chemours	2	8	3	0	2.08

Quaker Houghton currently has a consensus price target of $186.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.59%. Chemours has a consensus price target of $17.45, suggesting a potential upside of 36.74%. Given Chemours’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Chemours is more favorable than Quaker Houghton.

Risk & Volatility

Quaker Houghton has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chemours has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Quaker Houghton and Chemours”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Quaker Houghton	$2.03 billion	1.29	-$2.49 million	$5.59	27.14
Chemours	$5.81 billion	0.33	-$386.00 million	($1.02)	-12.51

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

Profitability

This table compares Quaker Houghton and Chemours’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Quaker Houghton	4.80%	9.84%	4.81%
Chemours	-2.64%	76.52%	1.51%

Dividends

Quaker Houghton pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Chemours pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Quaker Houghton pays out 37.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chemours pays out -34.3% 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. Quaker Houghton has raised its dividend for 17 consecutive years. Chemours is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

77.5% of Quaker Houghton shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.3% of Chemours shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Quaker Houghton shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Chemours shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Quaker Houghton beats Chemours on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Quaker Houghton

Quaker Chemical Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets various formulated specialty chemical products for a range of heavy industrial and manufacturing applications in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It offers metal removal fluids, cleaning fluids, corrosion inhibitors, metal drawing and forming fluids, die-cast mold releases, heat treatment and quenchants, metal forging fluids, hydraulic fluids, specialty greases, offshore sub-sea energy control fluids, rolling lubricants, rod and wire drawing fluids, and surface treatment chemicals. The company also provides chemical management services. It serves steel, aluminum, automotive, aerospace, offshore, container, mining, and metalworking companies. The company was founded in 1918 and is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

About Chemours

The Chemours Company provides performance chemicals in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It operates through three segments: Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials. The Titanium Technologies segment provides TiO2 pigment under the Ti-Pure brand for delivering whiteness, brightness, opacity, durability, efficiency, and protection in various of applications, such as architectural and industrial coatings, flexible and rigid plastic packaging, polyvinylchloride, laminate papers used for furniture and building materials, coated paper, and coated paperboard used for packaging. The Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment offers of refrigerants, thermal management solutions, propellants, foam blowing agents, and specialty solvents. The Advanced Performance Materials segment products portfolio includes various industrial resins, specialty products, membranes, and coatings for electronics, communications, transportation, wire and cable, energy, oil and gas, and medical, and other applications under the eflon, Viton, Krytox, and Nafion brands. The company sells its products through direct and indirect channels, as well as through a network of resellers and distributors. The Chemours Company was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.