Critical Survey: United States Lime & Minerals (USLM) vs. The Competition

United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) is one of 74 publicly-traded companies in the “Construction Materials” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare United States Lime & Minerals to related businesses based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

United States Lime & Minerals has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United States Lime & Minerals’ peers have a beta of 0.91, indicating that their average stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares United States Lime & Minerals and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
United States Lime & Minerals	$372.73 million	$134.27 million	26.09
United States Lime & Minerals Competitors	$6.61 billion	$651.21 million	24.31

United States Lime & Minerals’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than United States Lime & Minerals. United States Lime & Minerals is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.1% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.5% of shares of all “Construction Materials” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.0% of shares of all “Construction Materials” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for United States Lime & Minerals and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United States Lime & Minerals	0	0	2	0	3.00
United States Lime & Minerals Competitors	434	2136	2927	87	2.48

United States Lime & Minerals currently has a consensus target price of $131.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.23%. As a group, “Construction Materials” companies have a potential upside of 412.89%. Given United States Lime & Minerals’ peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe United States Lime & Minerals has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Dividends

United States Lime & Minerals pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. United States Lime & Minerals pays out 5.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Construction Materials” companies pay a dividend yield of 179.4% and pay out 31.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. United States Lime & Minerals has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares United States Lime & Minerals and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United States Lime & Minerals	35.08%	19.65%	18.18%
United States Lime & Minerals Competitors	1.52%	8.03%	4.93%

Summary

United States Lime & Minerals peers beat United States Lime & Minerals on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

United States Lime & Minerals Company Profile

United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of lime and limestone products. Its products include High Calcium Quicklime, Hydrated Lime, Lime Kiln Dust, Lime Slurry, and High Calcium Limestone. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.