Reviewing Avient (NYSE:AVNT) & H. B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL)

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) and H. B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) are both mid-cap materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.5% of Avient shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of H. B. Fuller shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Avient shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of H. B. Fuller shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Avient has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, H. B. Fuller has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Avient and H. B. Fuller, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avient	0	3	3	0	2.50
H. B. Fuller	0	3	4	1	2.75

Avient currently has a consensus target price of $46.71, suggesting a potential upside of 14.53%. H. B. Fuller has a consensus target price of $67.50, suggesting a potential upside of 35.19%. Given H. B. Fuller’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe H. B. Fuller is more favorable than Avient.

Profitability

This table compares Avient and H. B. Fuller’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avient	5.10%	11.64%	4.67%
H. B. Fuller	5.29%	12.18%	4.73%

Dividends

Avient pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. H. B. Fuller pays an annual dividend of $0.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Avient pays out 59.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. H. B. Fuller pays out 30.1% 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. Avient has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and H. B. Fuller has increased its dividend for 57 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Avient and H. B. Fuller”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Avient	$3.26 billion	1.15	$81.90 million	$1.85	22.05
H. B. Fuller	$3.47 billion	0.77	$151.97 million	$3.26	15.32

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

Summary

H. B. Fuller beats Avient on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Avient

Avient Corporation operates as a formulator of material solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and Asia. It operates in two segments, Color, Additives and Inks; and Specialty Engineered Materials. The Color, Additives and Inks segment offers custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, and specialty inks; custom-formulated liquid system, such as polyester, vinyl, natural rubber and latex, polyurethane, and silicone; and proprietary inks. Its products are used in medical and pharmaceutical devices, food packaging, personal care and cosmetics, transportation, building products, wire and cable, recreational and athletic apparel, construction and filtration, outdoor furniture, healthcare, textiles and appliances, and industrial markets. The Specialty Engineered Materials segment provides specialty polymer formulations, services, and solutions for designers, assemblers, and processors of thermoplastic materials. It sells its products through direct sales personnel, distributors, and commissioned sales agents. The company was formerly known as PolyOne Corporation and changed its name to Avient Corporation in June 2020. Avient Corporation was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Avon Lake, Ohio.

About H. B. Fuller

H.B. Fuller Company, together with its subsidiaries, formulates, manufactures, and markets adhesives, sealants, coatings, polymers, tapes, encapsulants, additives, and other specialty chemical products. It operates through three segments: Hygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives; Engineering Adhesives; and Construction Adhesives. The Hygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives segment produces and supplies specialty industrial adhesives, such as thermoplastic, thermoset, reactive, water-based, and solvent-based products for applications in various markets, including packaging, converting, nonwoven and hygiene, and health and beauty. The Engineering Adhesives segment produces and supplies high performance industrial adhesives comprising reactive, light cure, two-part liquids, polyurethane, silicone, film, and fast cure products to the durable assembly, performance wood and textile, transportation, electronics, clean energy, aerospace and defense, appliance, heavy machinery, and insulating glass markets. The Construction Adhesives segment provides products used for tile setting, commercial roofing, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning and insulation applications, as well as caulks and sealants for the consumer market and professional trade. The company sells its products directly to customers, as well as through distributors and retailers in the Americas, Europe, India, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. H.B. Fuller Company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota.