Mativ (NYSE:MATV) & Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Head-To-Head Review

Mativ (NYSE:MATV) and Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.0% of Mativ shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Linde shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Mativ shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Linde shares are owned by company 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.

Dividends

Mativ pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Mativ pays out -4.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Linde pays out 42.7% 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. Mativ has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Linde has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Mativ is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Mativ and Linde’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mativ	-23.09%	4.12%	1.16%
Linde	20.20%	19.09%	9.19%

Volatility and Risk

Mativ has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Linde has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Mativ and Linde”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mativ	$1.98 billion	0.29	-$48.70 million	($8.35)	-1.28
Linde	$33.01 billion	6.65	$6.57 billion	$14.06	33.27

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Mativ and Linde, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mativ	1	0	1	1	2.67
Linde	0	2	8	2	3.00

Mativ currently has a consensus price target of $10.00, suggesting a potential downside of 6.37%. Linde has a consensus price target of $520.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.15%. Given Linde’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Linde is more favorable than Mativ.

Summary

Linde beats Mativ on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mativ

Mativ Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells specialty materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Advanced Technical Materials and Fiber-Based Solutions. The Advanced Technical Materials manufactures and sells various engineered polymer, resin and fiber-based substrates, nets, films, adhesive tapes, and other nonwovens for the filtration, protective solutions, release liners, and healthcare end-markets. This segment sells its products directly, as well as through sales agents and distributors. The Fiber-Based Solutions segment produces packaging and specialty paper products. This segment provides premium packaging products that are used for wine, spirits and beer labels, folding cartons, box wrap, bags, hang tags, and stored value cards servicing retail, cosmetics, spirits, and electronics end-use markets; and premium papers, which are used in commercial printing services, advertising collateral, stationery, corporate identity packages and brochures, direct mail, business cards, and other uses. It also offers branded paper-based products for the consumer channel, such as bright papers, cardstock, stationery paper, envelopes, journals, and planners. This segment distributes its products through authorized paper distributors, converters, retailers, and specialty business converters, as well as directly to end-users. The company was formerly known as Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and changed its name to Mativ Holdings, Inc. in July 2022. Mativ Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene. The company also designs and constructs turnkey process plants for third-party customers, as well as for the gas businesses in various locations, such as air separation, hydrogen, synthesis, olefin, and natural gas plants. It serves a range of industries, including healthcare, chemicals and energy, manufacturing, metals and mining, food and beverage, and electronics. The company was founded in 1879 and is based in Woking, the United Kingdom.