Head to Head Comparison: SIKA (OTCMKTS:SXYAY) and Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI)

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) and SIKA (OTCMKTS:SXYAY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Element Solutions and SIKA, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Element Solutions	0	2	7	2	3.00
SIKA	1	3	2	3	2.78

Element Solutions presently has a consensus target price of $35.75, suggesting a potential upside of 5.40%. Given Element Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Element Solutions is more favorable than SIKA.

Risk & Volatility

Element Solutions has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SIKA has a beta of 0.02, indicating that its share price is 98% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Element Solutions and SIKA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Element Solutions	7.48%	13.79%	7.28%
SIKA	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Element Solutions and SIKA”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Element Solutions	$2.55 billion	3.24	$190.80 million	$0.79	42.94
SIKA	$13.52 billion	2.32	$1.26 billion	N/A	N/A

SIKA has higher revenue and earnings than Element Solutions.

Dividends

Element Solutions pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. SIKA pays an annual dividend of $0.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Element Solutions pays out 40.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.3% of Element Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.9% of Element Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Element Solutions beats SIKA on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Element Solutions

Element Solutions Inc operates as a specialty chemicals company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Electronics, and Industrial & Specialty. The Electronics segment researches, formulates, and sells specialty chemicals and materials for various types of electronics hardware products. This segment also supplies surface mount technologies, fluxes, thermal management material, coatings, and other attachment materials; chemical formulations to the electronics industry; and advanced copper interconnects, die attachment, sintered silver material, adhesives, wafer bump processes, and photomask technologies for semiconductor industry. It primarily serves mobile communications, computers, automobiles, and aerospace equipment industries. The Industrial & Specialty segment provides industrial solutions, which include chemical systems that protect and decorate metal and plastic surfaces; consumable chemicals that enable printing image transfer on flexible packaging materials; and chemistries used in water-based hydraulic control fluids for offshore energy production applications. It serves aerospace, automotive, construction, consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, and oil and gas production end markets. The company was formerly known as Platform Specialty Products Corporation and changed its name to Element Solutions Inc in January 2019. Element Solutions Inc was founded in 1785 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

About SIKA

Sika AG, a specialty chemicals company, develops, produces, and sells systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry worldwide. The company offers tile adhesives and grouts, systems for under-tile waterproofing, sound reduction, renders, decorative finishes for exterior and interior walls, as well as exterior insulation finishing system; develops admixtures and additives for concrete, cement, and mortar production; and flat roofing systems. It also provides a range of technologies used for below and above-ground waterproofing, including flexible membrane systems, liquid-applied membranes, joint waterproofing systems, and waterproofing mortars and injection resins for commercial and residential basements, tunnels, bridges, and various types of water-retaining structures, such as reservoirs, storage basins, and storage tanks. In addition, the company offers flooring solutions, such as synthetic resin and cementitious systems for industrial and commercial buildings; and sealants, adhesives, tapes, and spray foams for the building facades, interior finishing, and infrastructure projects. Further, it provides repairing, reinforcing, and protective solutions for concrete structures, such as repair mortars, shrinking grouts, anchoring adhesives, protective coatings, corrosion control, and structural strengthening systems. The company serves automobile and commercial vehicle assembly, automotive aftermarket, marine vessel, industrial lamination, renewable energy, home appliance, and facade engineering industries. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland.