Contrasting FMC (NYSE:FMC) & LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB)

FMC (NYSE:FMC) and LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares FMC and LyondellBasell Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FMC	-84.83%	11.35%	2.65%
LyondellBasell Industries	-1.13%	17.44%	5.30%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for FMC and LyondellBasell Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FMC	3	7	4	0	2.07
LyondellBasell Industries	4	8	7	1	2.25

FMC presently has a consensus target price of $14.38, suggesting a potential upside of 30.39%. LyondellBasell Industries has a consensus target price of $72.41, suggesting a potential upside of 15.39%. Given FMC’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe FMC is more favorable than LyondellBasell Industries.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.9% of FMC shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.2% of LyondellBasell Industries shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of FMC shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of LyondellBasell Industries shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares FMC and LyondellBasell Industries”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FMC	$3.25 billion	0.42	-$2.24 billion	($22.00)	-0.50
LyondellBasell Industries	$31.19 billion	0.65	-$738.00 million	($1.13)	-55.53

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

Volatility & Risk

FMC has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LyondellBasell Industries has a beta of 0.31, indicating that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

FMC pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. LyondellBasell Industries pays an annual dividend of $2.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. FMC pays out -1.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. LyondellBasell Industries pays out -244.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. LyondellBasell Industries has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. LyondellBasell Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

LyondellBasell Industries beats FMC on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FMC

FMC Corporation, an agricultural sciences company, provides crop protection, plant health, and professional pest and turf management products. It develops, markets, and sells crop protection chemicals that includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides; and biologicals, crop nutrition, and seed treatment products, which are used in agriculture to enhance crop yield and quality by controlling a range of insects, weeds, and diseases, as well as in non-agricultural markets for pest control. The company markets its products through its own sales organization and through alliance partners, independent distributors, and sales representatives. It operates in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About LyondellBasell Industries

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. operates as a chemical company in the United States, Germany, Mexico, Italy, Poland, France, Japan, China, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company operates in six segments: Olefins and PolyolefinsAmericas; Olefins and PolyolefinsEurope, Asia, International; Intermediates and Derivatives; Advanced Polymer Solutions; Refining; and Technology. It produces and markets olefins and co-products, polyethylene, and polypropylene; and propylene oxide and derivatives; oxyfuels and related products; and intermediate chemicals, such as styrene monomer, acetyls, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol. In addition, the company produce and markets compounding and solutions including polypropylene compounds, engineered plastics, masterbatches, engineered composites, colors and powders, and advanced polymers including catalloy and polybutene-1; and refines heavy, high-sulfur crude oil and other crude oils, as well as refined products, including gasoline and distillates. Further, it develops and licenses chemical and polyolefin process technologies; manufactures and sells polyolefin catalysts; and serves food packaging, home furnishings, automotive components, and paints and coatings applications. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.