5N Plus (OTCMKTS:FPLSF) & Trinseo (NYSE:TSE) Head to Head Analysis

Trinseo (NYSE:TSE) and 5N Plus (OTCMKTS:FPLSF) are both small-cap materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Trinseo and 5N Plus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Trinseo	-13.15%	N/A	-11.72%
5N Plus	14.14%	26.36%	11.28%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Trinseo and 5N Plus”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Trinseo	$3.13 billion	0.00	-$348.50 million	($11.55)	-0.02
5N Plus	$391.06 million	4.61	$50.57 million	$0.70	28.63

5N Plus has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Trinseo. Trinseo is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than 5N Plus, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Trinseo has a beta of 1.46, suggesting that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, 5N Plus has a beta of 1.88, suggesting that its stock price is 88% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

82.7% of Trinseo shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of 5N Plus shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of Trinseo shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of 5N Plus shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Trinseo and 5N Plus, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Trinseo	1	2	0	0	1.67
5N Plus	0	1	2	1	3.00

Trinseo presently has a consensus target price of $1.00, suggesting a potential upside of 334.78%. Given Trinseo’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Trinseo is more favorable than 5N Plus.

Summary

5N Plus beats Trinseo on 11 of the 15 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 5N Plus

5N Plus Inc. produces and sells specialty metals and chemicals in North America, Europe, and Asia. It operates through two segments, Specialty Semiconductors and Performance Materials. The company offers semiconductor compounds, semiconductor wafers, metals, epitaxial semiconductor substrates, and solar cells. It also provides active pharmaceutical ingredients, animal feed additives, specialized chemicals, commercial grade metals, alloys, engineered powders, and recycling services. The company serves renewable energy, security, space, pharmaceutical, medical imaging, manufacturing, electronic, consumer, and industrial application markets. 5N Plus Inc. is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.