Analyzing Salzgitter (OTCMKTS:SZGPY) and First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG)

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) and Salzgitter (OTCMKTS:SZGPY) are both mid-cap materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

27.2% of First Majestic Silver shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of First Majestic Silver shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for First Majestic Silver and Salzgitter, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Majestic Silver	0	3	5	1	2.78
Salzgitter	0	3	5	0	2.62

First Majestic Silver presently has a consensus target price of $23.83, indicating a potential upside of 26.74%. Given First Majestic Silver’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe First Majestic Silver is more favorable than Salzgitter.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares First Majestic Silver and Salzgitter”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Majestic Silver	$1.26 billion	7.37	$164.92 million	$0.71	26.49
Salzgitter	$10.16 billion	0.31	-$83.95 million	$0.12	48.83

First Majestic Silver has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Salzgitter. First Majestic Silver is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Salzgitter, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares First Majestic Silver and Salzgitter’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Majestic Silver	21.18%	13.36%	9.20%
Salzgitter	0.65%	1.30%	0.55%

Dividends

First Majestic Silver pays an annual dividend of $0.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Salzgitter pays an annual dividend of $0.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. First Majestic Silver pays out 8.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Salzgitter pays out 8.3% 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.

Volatility and Risk

First Majestic Silver has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Salzgitter has a beta of 1.7, indicating that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Majestic Silver beats Salzgitter on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Majestic Silver

First Majestic Silver Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of mineral properties with a focus on silver and gold production in North America. Its projects include the San Dimas mine covering an area of approximately 71,867 hectares located in Durango State, Mexico; the Santa Elena that covers an area of approximately 102,244 hectares located in Sonora State, México; and the La Encantada covering an area of approximately 4,076 hectares located in Coahuila State, México. The company was formerly known as First Majestic Resource Corp. and changed its name to First Majestic Silver Corp. in November 2006. First Majestic Silver Corp. was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Salzgitter

Salzgitter AG, together with its subsidiaries, engages in steel and technology businesses worldwide. It operates through four segments: Steel Production, Steel Processing, Trading, and Technology. The Steel Production segment manufactures steel and special steels, such as hot-rolled wide strip, steel sheet, sections, tailored blanks, as well as scrap trading. The Steel Processing segment produces various high-grade heavy plates; and manufactures line pipes, HFI-welded tubes, and precision and stainless-steel tubes. The Trading segment operates a European sales network, as well as trading companies and agencies worldwide. The Technology segment engages in the provision of machinery and plants for the filling and packaging of beverages, as well as special machinery engineering for shoe manufacturing and elastomer production. The company also provides IT, facility management, logistics, automotive engineering, and research and development services, as well as supplies raw materials. The company was founded in 1858 and is headquartered in Salzgitter, Germany.