Head-To-Head Review: Koppers (KOP) & Its Competitors

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) is one of 295 publicly-traded companies in the “Chemicals” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Koppers to related businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Koppers and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Koppers	-4.59%	14.98%	4.17%
Koppers Competitors	-61.06%	1.32%	-1.40%

Dividends

Koppers pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Koppers pays out -7.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Chemicals” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.1% and pay out 108.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Koppers has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Koppers and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Koppers	1	1	1	1	2.50
Koppers Competitors	3239	12184	14102	515	2.40

Koppers currently has a consensus target price of $55.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.23%. As a group, “Chemicals” companies have a potential upside of 6.58%. Given Koppers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Koppers is more favorable than its competitors.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Koppers and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Koppers	$1.88 billion	$56.00 million	-8.88
Koppers Competitors	$7.99 billion	$222.31 million	-3.48

Koppers’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Koppers. Koppers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Volatility & Risk

Koppers has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Koppers’ competitors have a beta of 1.25, suggesting that their average share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.7% of Koppers shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of Koppers shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.1% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Koppers beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Koppers

Koppers Holdings Inc. provides treated wood products, wood preservation chemicals, and carbon compounds in the United States, Australasia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Railroad and Utility Products and Services (RUPS), Performance Chemicals (PC), and Carbon Materials and Chemicals (CMC) segments. The RUPS segment procures and treats crossties, switch ties, and various types of lumber used for railroad bridges and crossings. It also provides rail joint bars to join rails together for railroads; transmission and distribution poles for electric and telephone utilities; and pilings. This segment provides railroad services, such as engineering, design, repair, and inspection services for railroad bridges. The PC segment develops, manufactures, and markets copper-based wood preservatives, including micronized copper azole, micronized pigments, alkaline copper quaternary, amine copper azole, and chromated copper arsenate for decking, fencing, utility poles, construction lumber and timbers, and various agricultural uses; and supplies fire-retardant chemicals for pressure treatment of wood primarily in commercial construction. The CMC segment manufactures creosote for the treatment of wood or as a feedstock in the production of carbon black; carbon pitch, a raw material used in the production of aluminum and steel; naphthalene for use as a feedstock in the production of phthalic anhydride and as a surfactant in the production of concrete; phthalic anhydride for the production of plasticizers, polyester resins, and alkyd paints; and carbon black feedstock for use in the production of carbon black. It serves the railroad, specialty chemical, utility, residential lumber, agriculture, aluminum, steel, rubber, and construction sectors. Koppers Holdings Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.