Reviewing Mativ (NYSE:MATV) & Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Mativ and Hawkins, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mativ	0	2	0	0	2.00
Hawkins	1	2	1	0	2.00

Hawkins has a consensus target price of $171.00, indicating a potential upside of 35.32%. Given Hawkins’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hawkins is more favorable than Mativ.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mativ	4.50%	13.53%	3.08%
Hawkins	7.29%	15.42%	8.22%

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mativ	$1.99 billion	0.35	-$337.40 million	$1.58	7.92
Hawkins	$1.11 billion	2.38	$81.55 million	$3.86	32.74

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

Volatility & Risk

Mativ has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hawkins has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Mativ pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Hawkins pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mativ pays out 25.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hawkins pays out 20.7% 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 Hawkins has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.0% of Mativ shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.7% of Hawkins shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Mativ shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Hawkins shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Hawkins beats Mativ on 12 of the 16 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 Hawkins

Hawkins, Inc. operates as a specialty chemical and ingredients company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Water Treatment, and Health and Nutrition. The Industrial segment offers industrial chemicals, products, and services to agriculture, chemical processing, electronics, energy, food, pharmaceutical, and plating industries. This segment manufactures sodium hypochlorite and agricultural products, as well as various food-grade and pharmaceutical products, such as liquid phosphates, lactates, other blended products, and agricultural products; and receives, stores, and distributes various chemicals comprising liquid caustic soda, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, urea, phosphoric acid, aqua ammonia, and potassium hydroxide. It also repackages water treatment chemicals and bulk industrial chemicals; and performs custom blending of chemicals. The Water Treatment segment provides chemicals, products, equipment, services, and solutions for potable water, municipal and industrial wastewater, industrial process water, non-residential swimming pool water, and agriculture water. The Health and Nutrition segment offers ingredient distribution, processing, and formulation solutions to manufacturers of nutraceutical, functional food and beverage, personal care, dietary supplement and other nutritional food, and health and wellness products. Its products portfolio includes minerals, vitamins and amino acids, excipients, joint products, botanicals and herbs, sweeteners, and enzymes. Hawkins, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Roseville, Minnesota.