Analyzing Liquidmetal Technologies (OTCMKTS:LQMT) and Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

Liquidmetal Technologies (OTCMKTS:LQMT) and Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Liquidmetal Technologies and Century Aluminum, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Liquidmetal Technologies	0	0	0	0	0.00
Century Aluminum	0	0	3	1	3.25

Century Aluminum has a consensus price target of $25.67, suggesting a potential downside of 8.30%. Given Century Aluminum’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Century Aluminum is more favorable than Liquidmetal Technologies.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.1% of Liquidmetal Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.6% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.4% of Liquidmetal Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Liquidmetal Technologies and Century Aluminum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Liquidmetal Technologies	-199.61%	-7.00%	-6.70%
Century Aluminum	4.94%	18.02%	6.21%

Volatility and Risk

Liquidmetal Technologies has a beta of 0.23, indicating that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Century Aluminum has a beta of 2.55, indicating that its share price is 155% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Liquidmetal Technologies and Century Aluminum”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Liquidmetal Technologies	$860,000.00	149.32	-$1.51 million	N/A	N/A
Century Aluminum	$2.22 billion	1.18	$336.80 million	$1.16	24.13

Century Aluminum has higher revenue and earnings than Liquidmetal Technologies.

Summary

Century Aluminum beats Liquidmetal Technologies on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Liquidmetal Technologies

Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc., a materials technology company, designs, develops, and sells custom products and parts from bulk amorphous alloys to various industries in the United States and internationally. The company provides bulk amorphous alloy custom products and parts for applications, which include non-consumer electronic devices, medical products, automotive components, and sports and leisure goods. It offers tooling and prototype parts, such as demonstration parts and test samples for customers with products in development; and engages in product licensing activities. In addition, the company partners with third-party manufacturers and licensees to develop and commercialize liquid metal alloy products. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Lake Forest, California.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production of standard-grade and value-added primary aluminum products in the United States and Iceland. It also owns and operates an alumina production facility in Iceland, and a carbon anode production facility in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.