Financial Contrast: Orion (NYSE:OEC) versus Croda International (OTCMKTS:COIHY)

Croda International (OTCMKTS:COIHY) and Orion (NYSE:OEC) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Croda International and Orion’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Croda International	N/A	N/A	N/A
Orion	-1.74%	14.90%	3.45%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.1% of Croda International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.3% of Orion shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Orion 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Croda International and Orion, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Croda International	2	1	0	2	2.40
Orion	3	2	0	0	1.40

Orion has a consensus target price of $5.67, suggesting a potential downside of 15.96%. Given Orion’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Orion is more favorable than Croda International.

Dividends

Croda International pays an annual dividend of $0.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Orion pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Orion pays out -13.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Croda International and Orion”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Croda International	$2.08 billion	2.66	$202.55 million	N/A	N/A
Orion	$1.88 billion	0.20	$44.20 million	($0.58)	-11.63

Croda International has higher revenue and earnings than Orion.

Volatility & Risk

Croda International has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orion has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Croda International beats Orion on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Croda International

Croda International Plc engages in the consumer care, life science, and industrial specialty businesses in in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, Asia, and Latin America. The company offers speciality and active ingredients across beauty care, beauty actives, and home care products, as well as fragrances and flavours. It also provides biologics drug delivery, adjuvant systems, small molecule, protein, and nucleic acid delivery platforms, as well as purity materials for pharmaceutical formulations. In addition, the company offers crop protection and seed enhancement related solutions. Croda International Plc was incorporated in 1925 and is headquartered in Goole, the United Kingdom.

About Orion

Orion S.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of carbon black products. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and conductive carbon black grades for batteries, polymers, and coatings. It also provides rubber carbon black products for applications in mechanical rubber goods, as well as in tires under the ECORAX brand name; and acetylene-based conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries and other applications. It operates in the United States, Brazil, rest of the Americas, Germany, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Turkey, France, Rest of EMEA, China, the Republic of Korea, and rest of Asia. The company was formerly known as Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. and changed its name to Orion S.A. in June 2023. Orion S.A. was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Senningerberg, Luxembourg.