FUCHS (OTCMKTS:FUPBY) and Orion (NYSE:OEC) Head-To-Head Comparison

Orion (NYSE:OEC) and FUCHS (OTCMKTS:FUPBY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, dividends and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Orion has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FUCHS has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Orion and FUCHS”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Orion	$1.81 billion	0.17	-$70.10 million	($1.26)	-4.42
FUCHS	$3.81 billion	1.49	$326.79 million	$0.63	17.19

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Orion and FUCHS, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Orion	3	2	0	0	1.40
FUCHS	1	0	1	0	2.00

Orion currently has a consensus price target of $5.58, indicating a potential upside of 0.15%. Given Orion’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Orion is more favorable than FUCHS.

Profitability

This table compares Orion and FUCHS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Orion	-3.88%	6.52%	1.42%
FUCHS	8.30%	15.46%	11.14%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.3% of Orion shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Orion shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Orion pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. FUCHS pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Orion pays out -6.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FUCHS pays out 27.0% 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.

Summary

FUCHS beats Orion on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Orion

Orion S.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of carbon black products. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and conductive carbon black grades for batteries, polymers, and coatings. It also provides rubber carbon black products for applications in mechanical rubber goods, as well as in tires under the ECORAX brand name; and acetylene-based conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries and other applications. It operates in the United States, Brazil, rest of the Americas, Germany, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Turkey, France, Rest of EMEA, China, the Republic of Korea, and rest of Asia. The company was formerly known as Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. and changed its name to Orion S.A. in June 2023. Orion S.A. was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Senningerberg, Luxembourg.

About FUCHS

Fuchs SE develops, produces, and sells lubricants and related specialties in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and North and South America. The company offers automotive lubricants, such as biodegradable lubricants, central and mobile hydraulic oils, dry coatings, engine and gear oils, motorcycle/two wheelers, and service fluids, as well as various oils for agriculture sector. It also provides industrial lubricants, including chain lubricants, dry coatings, gear and hydraulic oils, machine oils, open gear lubricants, rapidly biodegradable lubricants, compressor and refrigeration oils, release agents, slideways oils, fluids and industrial oils, textile machine oils, and turbine oils. In addition, the company offers lubricating greases comprising assembly pastes, biodegradable greases, food grade greases, multi-purpose/long-life greases, pastes for extreme temperatures, perfluorinated pastes, and wheel bearing greases, as well as gear boxes, and greases for central lubricating system, extreme temperature, machine tools, plain and roller bearings, rail vehicles, spray cans or rattle cans, and solid lubricants. Further, it provides metal processing lubricants consisting of cleaners, corrosion preventives, cutting and grinding, forming lubricants, and quenching oils; and special application lubricants for application equipment, chain lubrication, dry coatings, food and beverage, gears, sugar processing, railway traffic, plain and roller bearings, glass manufacturing process, hot forming, maintenance, open gears, pastes, release agents, other specialties, special greases, and wind power plants. Additionally, the company offers open gear and surface coating services. The company was formerly known as Fuchs Petrolub SE and changed its name to Fuchs SE in July 2023. Fuchs SE was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Mannheim, Germany.