Contrasting Materion (NYSE:MTRN) and Sibanye Gold (NYSE:SBSW)

Sibanye Gold (NYSE:SBSW) and Materion (NYSE:MTRN) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

34.9% of Sibanye Gold shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of Materion shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Sibanye Gold shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Materion shares are held by 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.

Profitability

This table compares Sibanye Gold and Materion’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sibanye Gold	N/A	N/A	N/A
Materion	1.12%	12.66%	6.53%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sibanye Gold and Materion”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sibanye Gold	$6.12 billion	N/A	-$398.42 million	N/A	N/A
Materion	$1.68 billion	1.78	$5.89 million	$0.95	152.63

Materion has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sibanye Gold.

Volatility and Risk

Sibanye Gold has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Materion has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Sibanye Gold and Materion, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sibanye Gold	1	1	2	2	2.83
Materion	0	2	1	0	2.33

Sibanye Gold presently has a consensus target price of $16.03, indicating a potential downside of 8.34%. Materion has a consensus target price of $161.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.04%. Given Materion’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Materion is more favorable than Sibanye Gold.

Summary

Materion beats Sibanye Gold on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sibanye Gold

Sibanye Stillwater Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals mining company in South Africa, the United States, Europe, and Australia. The company produces gold; platinum group metals (PGMs), including palladium, platinum, rhodium, iridium, and ruthenium; chrome; nickel; and silver, cobalt, and copper. It owns the East Boulder and Stillwater mines located in Montana, the United States; and Columbus metallurgical complex, which smelts the material mined to produce PGM-rich filter cake, as well as conducts PGM recycling activities. The company also involved in the Kroondal, Rustenburg, Marikana, and Platinum Mile operations situated in South Africa; Mimosa located on the southern portion in Zimbabwe; the Driefontein, Kloof, Rand Refinery, and Cooke surface operations located on the West Rand of the Witwatersrand Basin; and the Beatrix situated in the southern Free State. In addition, it owns an interest in surface tailings retreatment facilities; the Marathon PGM project in Ontario, Canada; the Altar and Rio Grande copper gold projects in the Andes in north-west Argentina; the Hoedspruit; and the Burnstone and southern Free State gold projects in South Africa. Sibanye Stillwater Limited was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Weltevreden Park, South Africa.

About Materion

Materion Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces advanced engineered materials used in semiconductor, industrial, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, consumer electronics, and telecom and data center in the United States, Asia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Performance Materials, Electronic Materials, Precision Optics, and Other. The company provides advanced engineered solutions comprising beryllium and non-beryllium containing alloy systems and custom engineered parts in strip, bulk, rod, plate, bar, tube, and other customized shapes; engineering and product development services; alloyed metals, beryllium products, and beryllium hydroxide; precision strip, rod, and wire products, as well as engineered strip metal products; and ToughMet alloys and SupremEX aluminum silicon carbide metal matrix composite formulation products. It operates the bertrandite ore mine and refinery located in Utah that provides feedstock hydroxide for its beryllium businesses and external sale. In addition, it produces advanced chemicals, microelectronics packaging, precious metal, non-precious metal, and specialty metal products, including vapor deposition targets, frame lid assemblies, clad and precious metal pre-forms, high temperature braze materials, and ultra-pure wire. Further, the company designs and produces precision thin film coatings, optical filters, and assemblies. The company sells its products directly from its facilities, as well as through company-owned service centers, outside distributors, agents, direct sales offices, and independent sales representatives. The company was formerly known as Brush Engineered Materials Inc. and changed its name to Materion Corporation in March 2011. Materion Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.