Head to Head Contrast: Cemex (NYSE:CX) vs. Knife River (NYSE:KNF)

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) and Cemex (NYSE:CX) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Knife River and Cemex, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Knife River	0	4	6	0	2.60
Cemex	0	5	7	0	2.58

Knife River presently has a consensus target price of $89.71, suggesting a potential upside of 35.34%. Cemex has a consensus target price of $13.07, suggesting a potential upside of 18.09%. Given Knife River’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Knife River is more favorable than Cemex.

Profitability

This table compares Knife River and Cemex’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Knife River	4.23%	8.73%	3.65%
Cemex	2.83%	3.82%	1.80%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.1% of Knife River shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Cemex shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Knife River shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Cemex shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Knife River has a beta of 0.42, meaning that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cemex has a beta of 1.53, meaning that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Knife River and Cemex”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Knife River	$3.15 billion	1.20	$157.07 million	$2.45	27.06
Cemex	$16.13 billion	0.99	$960.00 million	$0.34	32.54

Cemex has higher revenue and earnings than Knife River. Knife River is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cemex, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Knife River

Knife River Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides aggregates- led construction materials and contracting services in the United States. It operates through Pacific, Northwest, Mountain, Central, and Energy Services segments. The company mines, processes, and sells construction aggregates, including crushed stone and sand, and gravel; and produces and sells asphalt and ready-mix concrete. It also provides contracting service, such as heavy-civil construction, asphalt and concrete paving, and site development and grading. In addition, the company sells cement, merchandise, and other building materials and related services. The company sells its construction materials to public and private-sector customers, including federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as industrial, commercial and residential developers, and other private parties; and provides its contracting services to public-sector customers for the development and servicing of highways, local roads, bridges, and other public-infrastructure projects. Knife River Corporation was founded in 1917 and is based in Bismarck, North Dakota.

About Cemex

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, distributes, and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, urbanization solutions, and other construction materials and services worldwide. The company offers gray ordinary portland, white portland, oil-well, and blended cement products; mortar; and standard ready-mix, architectural and decorative, rapid-setting, fiber-reinforced, fluid-fill, roller-compacted, self-consolidating, pervious, and antibacterial, and other concrete products. It also provides crushed stone, sand, gravel, and recycled concrete products; performance materials, such as admixtures, mortars, special mortars, and asphalt; and waste management services comprising municipal and industrial, construction, demolition and excavation, and alternative raw materials. In addition, the company construction related services, including logistics and transportation, retail, pavement services, design and engineering, and others; and industrial construction products consist of precast components, 2D panels, 3D modules, and complete structures. CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico.