Critical Survey: Elementis (OTCMKTS:EMNSF) vs. BlueFire Renewables (OTCMKTS:BFRE)

Elementis (OTCMKTS:EMNSF) and BlueFire Renewables (OTCMKTS:BFRE) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Elementis and BlueFire Renewables, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Elementis	0	0	1	0	3.00
BlueFire Renewables	0	0	0	0	0.00

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Elementis	N/A	N/A	N/A
BlueFire Renewables	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

66.0% of Elementis shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of BlueFire Renewables shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of BlueFire Renewables shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Elementis pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. BlueFire Renewables pays an annual dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Elementis pays out 33.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BlueFire Renewables pays out -2,567.1% 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Elementis and BlueFire Renewables”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Elementis	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.24	8.60
BlueFire Renewables	N/A	N/A	N/A	($0.01)	-2,985.78

BlueFire Renewables is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Elementis, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Elementis beats BlueFire Renewables on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About BlueFire Renewables

BlueFire Renewables, Inc. focuses on developing, owning, and operating carbohydrate-based transportation fuel plants or bio-refineries to produce ethanol in North America. Its bio-refineries would convert organic materials, such as agricultural residues, high-content biomass crops, wood residues, and cellulose from municipal solid wastes into ethanol. The company has a technology license agreement with Arkenol, Inc. to use and sub-license the Arkenol technology that converts cellulose and waste materials into ethanol and other high value chemicals. It also focuses on providing professional services to bio-refineries worldwide. BlueFire Renewables, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is based in Mission Viejo, California.