Analyzing Cemex (NYSE:CX) & United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM)

United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) and Cemex (NYSE:CX) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Dividends

United States Lime & Minerals pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Cemex pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. United States Lime & Minerals pays out 5.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cemex pays out 27.3% 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. United States Lime & Minerals has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for United States Lime & Minerals and Cemex, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United States Lime & Minerals	0	0	1	0	3.00
Cemex	1	3	7	0	2.55

Cemex has a consensus price target of $13.92, suggesting a potential upside of 29.84%. Given Cemex’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cemex is more favorable than United States Lime & Minerals.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United States Lime & Minerals and Cemex”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United States Lime & Minerals	$372.73 million	8.59	$134.27 million	$4.67	23.90
Cemex	$16.13 billion	0.96	$960.00 million	$0.44	24.36

Cemex has higher revenue and earnings than United States Lime & Minerals. United States Lime & Minerals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cemex, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

27.1% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Cemex shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Cemex shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares United States Lime & Minerals and Cemex’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United States Lime & Minerals	35.66%	20.76%	19.24%
Cemex	3.60%	5.18%	2.43%

Volatility and Risk

United States Lime & Minerals has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cemex has a beta of 1.51, meaning that its share price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United States Lime & Minerals beats Cemex on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United States Lime & Minerals

United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of lime and limestone products. Its products include High Calcium Quicklime, Hydrated Lime, Lime Kiln Dust, Lime Slurry, and High Calcium Limestone. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About Cemex

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, distributes, and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, urbanization solutions, and other construction materials and services worldwide. The company offers gray ordinary portland, white portland, oil-well, and blended cement products; mortar; and standard ready-mix, architectural and decorative, rapid-setting, fiber-reinforced, fluid-fill, roller-compacted, self-consolidating, pervious, and antibacterial, and other concrete products. It also provides crushed stone, sand, gravel, and recycled concrete products; performance materials, such as admixtures, mortars, special mortars, and asphalt; and waste management services comprising municipal and industrial, construction, demolition and excavation, and alternative raw materials. In addition, the company construction related services, including logistics and transportation, retail, pavement services, design and engineering, and others; and industrial construction products consist of precast components, 2D panels, 3D modules, and complete structures. CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico.