Cemex (NYSE:CX) versus United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) Financial Survey

Cemex (NYSE:CX) and United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) are both construction companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Cemex and United States Lime & Minerals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cemex	1	4	3	0	2.25
United States Lime & Minerals	0	0	0	0	0.00

Cemex presently has a consensus price target of $7.58, suggesting a potential upside of 2.57%. Given Cemex’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Cemex is more favorable than United States Lime & Minerals.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cemex	8.84%	6.47%	2.92%
United States Lime & Minerals	35.74%	24.79%	22.59%

Risk and Volatility

Cemex has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United States Lime & Minerals has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.0% of Cemex shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.1% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Cemex shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of United States Lime & Minerals shares 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cemex and United States Lime & Minerals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cemex	$16.20 billion	0.66	$939.00 million	$0.96	7.69
United States Lime & Minerals	$317.72 million	9.13	$108.84 million	$4.20	24.12

Cemex has higher revenue and earnings than United States Lime & Minerals. Cemex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United States Lime & Minerals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Cemex pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. United States Lime & Minerals pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Cemex pays out 8.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United States Lime & Minerals pays out 5.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. United States Lime & Minerals has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Summary

United States Lime & Minerals beats Cemex on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cemex

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, distributes, and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, urbanization solutions, and other construction materials and services worldwide. The company offers gray ordinary portland, white portland, oil-well, and blended cement products; mortar; and standard ready-mix, architectural and decorative, rapid-setting, fiber-reinforced, fluid-fill, roller-compacted, self-consolidating, pervious, and antibacterial, and other concrete products. It also provides crushed stone, sand, gravel, and recycled concrete products; performance materials, such as admixtures, mortars, special mortars, and asphalt; and waste management services comprising municipal and industrial, construction, demolition and excavation, and alternative raw materials. In addition, the company construction related services, including logistics and transportation, retail, pavement services, design and engineering, and others; and industrial construction products consist of precast components, 2D panels, 3D modules, and complete structures. CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico.

About United States Lime & Minerals

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.