Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) vs. Orbia Advance (OTCMKTS:MXCHY) Critical Review

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) and Orbia Advance (OTCMKTS:MXCHY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Element Solutions and Orbia Advance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Element Solutions	5.32%	14.19%	7.30%
Orbia Advance	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility and Risk

Element Solutions has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orbia Advance has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Element Solutions and Orbia Advance, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Element Solutions	0	2	6	3	3.09
Orbia Advance	0	0	3	0	3.00

Element Solutions currently has a consensus target price of $42.29, indicating a potential downside of 3.27%. Given Element Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Element Solutions is more favorable than Orbia Advance.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.3% of Element Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 6.2% of Element Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Element Solutions and Orbia Advance”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Element Solutions	$2.55 billion	4.17	$190.80 million	$0.62	70.51
Orbia Advance	$7.62 billion	0.33	-$457.00 million	N/A	N/A

Element Solutions has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Orbia Advance.

Summary

Element Solutions beats Orbia Advance on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Element Solutions

Element Solutions Inc operates as a specialty chemicals company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Electronics, and Industrial & Specialty. The Electronics segment researches, formulates, and sells specialty chemicals and materials for various types of electronics hardware products. This segment also supplies surface mount technologies, fluxes, thermal management material, coatings, and other attachment materials; chemical formulations to the electronics industry; and advanced copper interconnects, die attachment, sintered silver material, adhesives, wafer bump processes, and photomask technologies for semiconductor industry. It primarily serves mobile communications, computers, automobiles, and aerospace equipment industries. The Industrial & Specialty segment provides industrial solutions, which include chemical systems that protect and decorate metal and plastic surfaces; consumable chemicals that enable printing image transfer on flexible packaging materials; and chemistries used in water-based hydraulic control fluids for offshore energy production applications. It serves aerospace, automotive, construction, consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, and oil and gas production end markets. The company was formerly known as Platform Specialty Products Corporation and changed its name to Element Solutions Inc in January 2019. Element Solutions Inc was founded in 1785 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

About Orbia Advance

Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V. provides products and solutions for precision agriculture, building and infrastructure, fluorinated, polymer, and connectivity sectors worldwide. The company offers irrigation systems, agricultural and greenhouse projects, digital farming technologies, and related services; and connectivity solutions, including conduits, cable-in conduit, and other HDPE products and solutions. It also provides water delivering solutions for drinking water supply, sanitation, and urban water resilience; fluorine and downstream products, comprising fluorspar mine and produces intermediates, refrigerants, and propellants for used in automotive, infrastructure, semiconductor, health, medicine, climate control, food cold chain, energy storage, computing, and telecommunications applications; and general and specialty resins, PVC, and compounds and additives for stabilizers and plasticizers, as well as compounds formulated from polyolefin, thermoplastic polyurethane, and thermoplastic elastomer polymers for various applications. The company was formerly known as Mexichem, S.A.B. de C.V. and changed its name to Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V. in August 2019. Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V. was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.