Reviewing Friedman Industries (NASDAQ:FRD) and Ampco-Pittsburgh (NYSE:AP)

Volatility and Risk

Friedman Industries has a beta of 1.51, suggesting that its share price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ampco-Pittsburgh has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Friedman Industries and Ampco-Pittsburgh”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Friedman Industries	$444.60 million	0.25	$6.09 million	$0.86	18.60
Ampco-Pittsburgh	$418.30 million	0.14	$440,000.00	$0.22	13.00

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

Profitability

This table compares Friedman Industries and Ampco-Pittsburgh’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Friedman Industries	1.37%	4.70%	2.80%
Ampco-Pittsburgh	1.04%	5.89%	0.79%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.3% of Friedman Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.2% of Ampco-Pittsburgh shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.6% of Friedman Industries shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 31.6% of Ampco-Pittsburgh shares are owned by 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.

Summary

Friedman Industries beats Ampco-Pittsburgh on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Friedman Industries

Friedman Industries, Incorporated engages in steel processing, pipe manufacturing and processing, and the steel and pipe distribution businesses the United States. It operates in two segments, Coil and Tubular. The Coil segment is involved in the conversion of steel coils into flat sheet and plate steel cut to customer specifications and reselling steel coils. This segment also processes customer-owned coils on a fee basis. The company sells coil products and processing services to approximately 200 customers located primarily in the midwestern, southwestern and southeastern regions of the United States. Its principal customers for these products and services are steel distributors and customers manufacturing steel products, such as steel buildings, railroad cars, barges, tanks and containers, trailers, component parts and other fabricated steel products. The Tubular segment manufactures line and oil country pipes, as well as pipes for structural applications. This segment sells its tubular products principally to steel and pipe distributors through its own sales force. The company was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Longview, Texas.

About Ampco-Pittsburgh

Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in manufacture and sale of specialty metal products and customized equipment to commercial and industrial users worldwide. The company operates through Forged and Cast Engineered Products (FCEP); and Air and Liquid Processing (ALP) segments. The FCEP segment produces forged hardened steel rolls, cast rolls and, forged engineered products that are used in cold rolling mills by producers of steel, aluminum, and other metals; cast rolls for hot strip mills, medium/heavy section mills, roughing mills, and plate mills; and forged engineered products for narrow and wide strip and aluminum mills, back-up rolls for narrow strip mills, and leveling rolls and shafts. The ALP segment produces custom-engineered finned tube heat exchange coils and related heat transfer products for various industries, including OEM/commercial, nuclear power generation, and industrial manufacturing; custom-designed air handling systems for institutional, pharmaceutical, and general industrial building markets; and manufacture centrifugal pumps for the fossil fueled power generation, marine defense, and industrial refrigeration industries. Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation was incorporated in 1929 and is headquartered in Carnegie, Pennsylvania.