Critical Contrast: Mesabi Trust (MSB) vs. The Competition

Mesabi Trust (NYSE:MSB) is one of 1,987 public companies in the “Metals & Mining” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Mesabi Trust to related companies based on the strength of its risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Mesabi Trust and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mesabi Trust	54.46%	33.50%	28.16%
Mesabi Trust Competitors	-1,161,736,352,322,426,800.00%	-9.04%	-2.11%

Volatility & Risk

Mesabi Trust has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mesabi Trust’s competitors have a beta of 1.02, indicating that their average stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

16.0% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Mesabi Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.7% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Mesabi Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Mesabi Trust pays out 40.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Metals & Mining” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.0% and pay out 10.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Mesabi Trust lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Mesabi Trust and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mesabi Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00
Mesabi Trust Competitors	6309	22429	32013	1767	2.47

As a group, “Metals & Mining” companies have a potential upside of 11.32%. Given Mesabi Trust’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mesabi Trust has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Mesabi Trust and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mesabi Trust	$11.21 million	$13.87 million	41.04
Mesabi Trust Competitors	$5.20 billion	$277.76 million	-28.87

Mesabi Trust’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Mesabi Trust. Mesabi Trust is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Mesabi Trust competitors beat Mesabi Trust on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

About Mesabi Trust

Mesabi Trust, a royalty trust, engages in iron ore mining business in the United States. Mesabi Trust was founded in 1961 and is based in New York, New York.