Contrasting Trinseo (NYSE:TSE) & Elementis (OTCMKTS:ELMTY)

Trinseo (NYSE:TSE) and Elementis (OTCMKTS:ELMTY) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Trinseo and Elementis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Trinseo	-13.15%	N/A	-11.72%
Elementis	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

Trinseo has a beta of 1.48, suggesting that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elementis has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Trinseo and Elementis, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Trinseo	1	2	0	0	1.67
Elementis	0	0	0	0	0.00

Trinseo presently has a consensus price target of $1.00, suggesting a potential upside of 106.19%. Given Trinseo’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Trinseo is more favorable than Elementis.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Trinseo and Elementis”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Trinseo	$3.51 billion	0.00	-$348.50 million	($11.55)	-0.04
Elementis	$738.30 million	1.60	-$47.80 million	N/A	N/A

Elementis has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Trinseo.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

82.7% of Trinseo shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of Trinseo shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Trinseo beats Elementis on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Trinseo

Trinseo PLC operates as a specialty material solutions provider in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. It operates through five segments: Engineered Materials, Latex Binders, Plastics Solutions, Polystyrene, and Americas Styrenics. The Engineered Materials segment offers rigid thermoplastic compounds and blends, soft thermoplastic, continuous cast, cell cast, activated methyl methacrylates (MMA), PMMA resins, and extruded PMMA sheets and resins for consumer electronics, medical, footwear, automotive, and building and construction applications under the EMERGE, CALIBRE, PLEXIGLAS, ALTUGLAS, ACRYSPA, AVONITE, STUDIO, MEGOL, APILON, APIGO, and APINAT brands. The Latex Binders segment provides styrene-butadiene latex, and other latex polymers and binders primarily for coated paper and packaging board, carpet, and artificial turf backings, as well as the adhesive, building and construction, and technical textile paper market. The Plastics Solutions segment offers acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, styrene-acrylonitrile, polycarbonate, and compounds and blends for automotive and other applications under the MAGNUM brand. The Polystyrene segment provides general purpose polystyrenes and high impact polystyrene for use in appliances, food packaging and food service disposables, consumer electronics, and building and construction materials under the STYRON brand. The Americas Styrenics segment provides styrene and polystyrene for appliances, food packaging, food service disposables, consumer electronics, and building and construction materials applications. Trinseo PLC was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

About Elementis

Elementis plc operates as a specialty chemical company in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, North America, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Performance Specialties and Personal Care. The Performance Specialties segment engages in the production of rheological modifiers and additives for decorative and industrial coatings; and production and supply of talc for use in plastics, coatings, technical ceramics, and paper sectors. The Personal Care segment provides rheological modifiers and compounded products, including active ingredients for antiperspirants (AP) deodorants for personal care manufacturers. The company offers personal care products for antiperspirants, color cosmetics, and skin care applications; and performance specialties products for architectural coatings, adhesives, sealants and construction additives, and talc applications. Elementis plc was founded in 1844 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.