Cosan (CSAN) and The Competition Head to Head Comparison

Cosan (NYSE:CSAN) is one of 75 public companies in the “Other Alt Energy” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Cosan to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, profitability, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

40.6% of shares of all “Other Alt Energy” companies are held by institutional investors. 18.4% of shares of all “Other Alt Energy” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cosan	-25.77%	-24.39%	-7.53%
Cosan Competitors	-41.99%	-24.92%	-4.00%

Risk and Volatility

Cosan has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cosan’s competitors have a beta of -70.27, meaning that their average stock price is 7,127% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Cosan and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cosan	0	0	1	1	3.50
Cosan Competitors	261	986	1648	55	2.51

Cosan currently has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 326.49%. As a group, “Other Alt Energy” companies have a potential downside of 1.56%. Given Cosan’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Cosan is more favorable than its competitors.

Dividends

Cosan pays an annual dividend of $0.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. Cosan pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Other Alt Energy” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.1% and pay out 54.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Cosan is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cosan and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cosan	$43.77 billion	-$1.75 billion	3.38
Cosan Competitors	$4.28 billion	$332.42 million	7.81

Cosan has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Cosan is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Cosan beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Cosan

Cosan S.A. engages in the fuel distribution business. It operates through Raízen, Compass, Moove, Rumo, and Radar segments. The company’s Raízen segment engages in the production, commercialization, origination, and trading of ethanol, bioenergy, renewable sources, and sugar; trading and resale of electricity; and distribution and commercialization of fuels and lubricants. Its Compass segment distributes piped natural gas to industrial, residential, commercial, automotive, and cogeneration customers; and develops infrastructure projects in a regasification terminal, offshore gas pipeline, and thermal generation projects utilizing natural gas, as well as commercialization of electricity and natural gas. The company’s Moove segment produces and distributes lubricants under the Comma brand. Its Rumo segment provides logistics services for rail transportation, port storage, and loading of goods, including grains and sugar; and leases locomotives, wagons, and another railroad equipment, as well as operates containers. The company’s Radar segment manages agricultural property. It operates in Brazil, England, France, Spain and Portugal, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay, the United States, Asia, and internationally. Cosan S.A. was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.