FUCHS (OTCMKTS:FUPBY) vs. Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Head-To-Head Contrast

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) and FUCHS (OTCMKTS:FUPBY) are both materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Albemarle and FUCHS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Albemarle	3.09%	10.96%	5.39%
FUCHS	9.04%	17.40%	12.30%

Dividends

Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. FUCHS pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Albemarle pays out 607.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. FUCHS pays out 26.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Albemarle has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years. FUCHS is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility & Risk

Albemarle has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FUCHS has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Albemarle and FUCHS”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Albemarle	$5.14 billion	2.40	-$510.63 million	$0.27	387.47
FUCHS	$4.03 billion	1.56	$346.21 million	$0.75	15.95

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.9% of Albemarle shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Albemarle shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Albemarle and FUCHS, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Albemarle	2	9	15	0	2.50
FUCHS	0	2	2	1	2.80

Albemarle currently has a consensus price target of $187.65, indicating a potential upside of 79.37%. Given Albemarle’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Albemarle is more favorable than FUCHS.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Energy Storage, Specialties and Ketjen. The Energy Storage segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride; technical services for the handling and use of reactive lithium products; and lithium-containing by-products recycling services. The Specialties segment provides bromine-based specialty chemicals, including elemental bromine, alkyl and inorganic bromides, brominated powdered activated carbon, and other bromine fine chemicals; lithium specialties, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride; develops and manufactures cesium products for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries; and zirconium, barium, and titanium products for pyrotechnical applications that include airbag initiators. The Ketjen segment offers clean fuels technologies (CFT), which is composed of hydroprocessing catalysts (HPC) together with isomerization and akylation catalysts; fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts and additives; and performance catalyst solutions (PCS), which is composed of organometallics and curatives. The company serves the energy storage, petroleum refining, consumer electronics, construction, automotive, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, and crop protection markets. Albemarle Corporation was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About FUCHS

Fuchs SE develops, produces, and sells lubricants and related specialties in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and North and South America. The company offers automotive lubricants, such as biodegradable lubricants, central and mobile hydraulic oils, dry coatings, engine and gear oils, motorcycle/two wheelers, and service fluids, as well as various oils for agriculture sector. It also provides industrial lubricants, including chain lubricants, dry coatings, gear and hydraulic oils, machine oils, open gear lubricants, rapidly biodegradable lubricants, compressor and refrigeration oils, release agents, slideways oils, fluids and industrial oils, textile machine oils, and turbine oils. In addition, the company offers lubricating greases comprising assembly pastes, biodegradable greases, food grade greases, multi-purpose/long-life greases, pastes for extreme temperatures, perfluorinated pastes, and wheel bearing greases, as well as gear boxes, and greases for central lubricating system, extreme temperature, machine tools, plain and roller bearings, rail vehicles, spray cans or rattle cans, and solid lubricants. Further, it provides metal processing lubricants consisting of cleaners, corrosion preventives, cutting and grinding, forming lubricants, and quenching oils; and special application lubricants for application equipment, chain lubrication, dry coatings, food and beverage, gears, sugar processing, railway traffic, plain and roller bearings, glass manufacturing process, hot forming, maintenance, open gears, pastes, release agents, other specialties, special greases, and wind power plants. Additionally, the company offers open gear and surface coating services. The company was formerly known as Fuchs Petrolub SE and changed its name to Fuchs SE in July 2023. Fuchs SE was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Mannheim, Germany.