Head to Head Review: Mativ (NYSE:MATV) & Westaim (OTCMKTS:WEDXF)

Mativ (NYSE:MATV) and Westaim (OTCMKTS:WEDXF) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Mativ has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westaim has a beta of 0.21, indicating that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Mativ and Westaim’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mativ	3.86%	11.77%	2.57%
Westaim	-108.56%	-9.68%	-7.67%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Mativ and Westaim, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mativ	1	1	0	0	1.50
Westaim	0	0	0	0	0.00

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.9% of Mativ shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Mativ shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Westaim shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Mativ and Westaim”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mativ	$1.98 billion	0.22	-$337.40 million	$1.34	5.81
Westaim	$53.37 million	9.94	-$38.00 million	($1.92)	-8.31

Westaim has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Mativ. Westaim is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mativ, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Mativ beats Westaim on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mativ

Mativ Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells specialty materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Advanced Technical Materials and Fiber-Based Solutions. The Advanced Technical Materials manufactures and sells various engineered polymer, resin and fiber-based substrates, nets, films, adhesive tapes, and other nonwovens for the filtration, protective solutions, release liners, and healthcare end-markets. This segment sells its products directly, as well as through sales agents and distributors. The Fiber-Based Solutions segment produces packaging and specialty paper products. This segment provides premium packaging products that are used for wine, spirits and beer labels, folding cartons, box wrap, bags, hang tags, and stored value cards servicing retail, cosmetics, spirits, and electronics end-use markets; and premium papers, which are used in commercial printing services, advertising collateral, stationery, corporate identity packages and brochures, direct mail, business cards, and other uses. It also offers branded paper-based products for the consumer channel, such as bright papers, cardstock, stationery paper, envelopes, journals, and planners. This segment distributes its products through authorized paper distributors, converters, retailers, and specialty business converters, as well as directly to end-users. The company was formerly known as Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and changed its name to Mativ Holdings, Inc. in July 2022. Mativ Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.

About Westaim

The Westaim Corporation is a private equity firm specializing in direct and indirect investments through acquisitions, joint ventures, secondary investments both direct and indirect, fund of fund investments, and other arrangements. For direct investments, the firm invests in early venture, mid venture, late venture, middle market, later stage, mature, emerging growth, PIPEs, and buyout transactions. For fund of fund investments, it seeks to invest in private equity funds, venture capital funds, and hedge funds. The firm seeks to provide long term capital to businesses operating in the global financial services industry. It typically acquires controlling interests in businesses. The firm seeks to acquire debt, equity, or derivative securities of both public and private companies. It invests with the objective of providing its shareholders with capital appreciation and real wealth preservation. The firm seeks to provide its portfolio companies with advisory services including, but not limited to, advice on capital allocation, financing strategy, performance measurement and merger and acquisition support. It also seeks to partner with like-minded providers of third party capital to help supplement the firm's own capital, when completing acquisitions. The firm generally seeks to hold its investments for seven to 15 years. The Westaim Corporation was founded in 1996 and is based in Toronto, Canada.