Analyzing Lsb Industries (NYSE:LXU) & Chemours (NYSE:CC)

Lsb Industries (NYSE:LXU) and Chemours (NYSE:CC) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, risk and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Lsb Industries has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chemours has a beta of 1.65, meaning that its share price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lsb Industries and Chemours”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lsb Industries	$538.85 million	1.20	-$19.35 million	($0.46)	-19.57
Chemours	$5.78 billion	0.42	$86.00 million	($2.80)	-5.76

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Lsb Industries and Chemours, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lsb Industries	1	1	2	0	2.25
Chemours	1	4	5	0	2.40

Lsb Industries presently has a consensus price target of $9.75, suggesting a potential upside of 8.33%. Chemours has a consensus price target of $17.63, suggesting a potential upside of 9.37%. Given Chemours’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Chemours is more favorable than Lsb Industries.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

73.7% of Lsb Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.3% of Chemours shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of Lsb Industries shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Chemours shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Lsb Industries and Chemours’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lsb Industries	-6.15%	-0.34%	-0.14%
Chemours	-7.19%	35.14%	2.45%

Summary

Chemours beats Lsb Industries on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lsb Industries

LSB Industries, Inc. engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of chemical products. The company provides nitrogen-based fertilizers, such as ammonia, fertilizer grade high density ammonium nitrate (HDAN), and urea ammonia nitrate for fertilizer for corn, pastures, and other crops, as well as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) fertilizer blends application. It also offers high purity and commercial grade ammonia, high purity ammonium nitrate, sulfuric acids, mixed nitrating acids, carbon dioxide, and diesel exhaust fluids, as well as concentrated, and blended and regular nitric acids for various applications, including semiconductor, nylon, and polyurethane intermediates, ammonium nitrate, and metal processing; chemical feedstocks, emissions abatement, water treatments, and refrigerants; pulp and paper, aluminum, water treatment, metals, and vanadium processing; abatement for diesel vehicles; and food refrigeration, dry ice, and enhanced oil recovery. In addition, the company provides industrial grade and low density ammonium nitrate, and ammonium nitrate for explosives mining, quarries, and other blasting activities. It sells its products through distributors, as well as directly to end customers in the United States and other parts of North America. The company serves to the agricultural, industrial, and mining markets. LSB Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About Chemours

The Chemours Company provides performance chemicals in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It operates through three segments: Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials. The Titanium Technologies segment provides TiO2 pigment under the Ti-Pure brand for delivering whiteness, brightness, opacity, durability, efficiency, and protection in various of applications, such as architectural and industrial coatings, flexible and rigid plastic packaging, polyvinylchloride, laminate papers used for furniture and building materials, coated paper, and coated paperboard used for packaging. The Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment offers of refrigerants, thermal management solutions, propellants, foam blowing agents, and specialty solvents. The Advanced Performance Materials segment products portfolio includes various industrial resins, specialty products, membranes, and coatings for electronics, communications, transportation, wire and cable, energy, oil and gas, and medical, and other applications under the eflon, Viton, Krytox, and Nafion brands. The company sells its products through direct and indirect channels, as well as through a network of resellers and distributors. The Chemours Company was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.