Outokumpu (OTCMKTS:OUTKY) & Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Financial Analysis

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) and Outokumpu (OTCMKTS:OUTKY) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Century Aluminum and Outokumpu, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Century Aluminum	0	3	4	0	2.57
Outokumpu	0	4	1	0	2.20

Century Aluminum presently has a consensus price target of $61.00, indicating a potential upside of 82.25%. Given Century Aluminum’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Century Aluminum is more favorable than Outokumpu.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.6% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Century Aluminum and Outokumpu”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Century Aluminum	$2.67 billion	1.24	$41.80 million	$8.53	3.92
Outokumpu	$6.19 billion	0.31	-$155.00 million	($0.03)	-68.14

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

Risk & Volatility

Century Aluminum has a beta of 2.17, meaning that its share price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Outokumpu has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Century Aluminum and Outokumpu’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Century Aluminum	29.74%	47.45%	24.20%
Outokumpu	-0.42%	-0.72%	-0.42%

Summary

Century Aluminum beats Outokumpu on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production of standard-grade and value-added primary aluminum products in the United States and Iceland. It also owns and operates an alumina production facility in Iceland, and a carbon anode production facility in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Outokumpu

Outokumpu Oyj produces and sells various stainless steel products in Finland, other European countries, North America, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Europe, Americas, and Ferrochrome. It offers cold rolled coils, strips, and sheets; hot rolled coils, strips, and plates; quarto plates; precision strips; and specialized components, such as welded stainless-steel I-beams, H-beams, hollow-section tubes, bent profiles, structural sections, hardened and customized press plates, suction roll shells, and blancs and disks. The company also provides stainless steel powder which includes Supra 316L, Dura 17-4PH, Ultra 904L, Therma 253MA, Dura 4116, and Ni-free austenitic stainless steel powder; and nickel-based alloys. Its products are used in various applications, including commercial kitchen, cooking, food industry, and home appliances; automotive and transportation; building and infrastructure; energy; marine; and heavy industries. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland.