Head to Head Analysis: Acerinox (OTCMKTS:ANIOY) versus JFE (OTCMKTS:JFEEF)

Acerinox (OTCMKTS:ANIOY) and JFE (OTCMKTS:JFEEF) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Acerinox and JFE’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acerinox	1.59%	3.54%	1.41%
JFE	1.49%	2.78%	1.27%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Acerinox and JFE”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Acerinox	$5.86 billion	0.52	$243.41 million	$0.19	32.34
JFE	$31.91 billion	0.25	$606.33 million	$0.71	17.59

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Acerinox and JFE, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acerinox	0	1	3	0	2.75
JFE	0	0	0	0	0.00

Risk and Volatility

Acerinox has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JFE has a beta of 0.48, meaning that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Acerinox beats JFE on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Acerinox

Acerinox, S.A., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, process, and markets stainless steel products in Spain, the United States, Africa, Asia, Rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates through Stainless steel, and High-performance Alloys segments. The company offers flat products, including hot and cold rolled coils and sheets, strips, flat bars, and discs, as well as engraved coil and sheet, black coil, slabs, circles, billets, and plates. It provides long products, which include wire and hexagonal wire rods, peeled bars, hot and cold reinforcement bars, black bars, profiles, angles, and steel profiles, as well as stainless steel, color coated, and reinforcement wires. In additions, it offers stainless steel products, such as austenitic, ferritic, duplex, and martensitic. Acerinox, S.A. was incorporated in 1970 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.

About JFE

JFE Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in steel, engineering, and trading businesses in Japan and internationally. Its Steel segment produces and sells various steel products, processed steel products, and raw materials, as well as operates in the transportation, facility maintenance, and construction businesses. The company's Engineering segment handles the engineering of energy, urban environment, steel structures and industrial machinery, recycling, and electricity retailing projects. Its Trading segment purchases, processes, and distributes steel products, raw materials for steel production, nonferrous metal products, food, etc. JFE Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.