Alpha Metallurgical Resources (NYSE:AMR) and Nucor (NYSE:NUE) Financial Review

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) and Alpha Metallurgical Resources (NYSE:AMR) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Nucor has a beta of 1.84, meaning that its stock price is 84% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alpha Metallurgical Resources has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Nucor and Alpha Metallurgical Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nucor	7.99%	12.73%	8.03%
Alpha Metallurgical Resources	-2.23%	-2.99%	-2.01%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Nucor and Alpha Metallurgical Resources”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nucor	$36.10 billion	1.62	$1.74 billion	$12.54	20.59
Alpha Metallurgical Resources	$2.13 billion	0.97	-$61.69 million	($3.58)	-45.72

Nucor has higher revenue and earnings than Alpha Metallurgical Resources. Alpha Metallurgical Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nucor, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Nucor and Alpha Metallurgical Resources, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nucor	0	3	13	1	2.88
Alpha Metallurgical Resources	1	6	0	0	1.86

Nucor currently has a consensus price target of $276.86, suggesting a potential upside of 7.21%. Alpha Metallurgical Resources has a consensus price target of $179.75, suggesting a potential upside of 9.83%. Given Alpha Metallurgical Resources’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Alpha Metallurgical Resources is more favorable than Nucor.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

76.5% of Nucor shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.3% of Alpha Metallurgical Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Nucor shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.2% of Alpha Metallurgical Resources shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Nucor beats Alpha Metallurgical Resources on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nucor

Nucor Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. It operates in three segments: steel mills, steel products, and raw materials. The Steel Mills segment produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet steel products; plate steel products; wide-flange beams, beam blanks, and H-piling and sheet piling structural steel products; bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and engineered special bar quality products; and engages in the steel trading and rebar distribution businesses. This segment sells its products to steel service centers, fabricators, and manufacturers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Steel Products segment offers steel joists and joist girders, steel decks, and galvanized torque tubes for used in solar arrays, hollow structural section steel tubing, electrical conduit, fabricated concrete reinforcing steel, cold finished steel, steel fasteners, steel grating and expanded metal, wire and wire mesh, metal building systems, insulated metal panels, steel racking, overhead doors, and utility towers and structures for communications and energy transmission. This segment is also involved in the piling distribution business. The Raw Materials segment produces direct reduced iron (DRI); brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, hot briquetted iron, and DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal; and engages in the natural gas production and industrial gas business. This segment sells its ferrous scrap to electric arc furnace steel mills and foundries for manufacturing process; and nonferrous scrap metal to aluminum can producers, secondary aluminum smelters, steel mills and other processors, and consumers of various nonferrous metals. It markets its products through in-house sales force; and internal distribution and trading companies. Nucor Corporation was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About Alpha Metallurgical Resources

Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc., a mining company, produces, processes, and sells met and thermal coal in Virginia and West Virginia. The company offers metallurgical coal products. It operates twenty-two active mines and nine coal preparation and load-out facilities. The company was formerly known as Contura Energy, Inc. and changed its name to Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc. in February 2021. Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Bristol, Tennessee.