Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) Competitors

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) and Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Do analysts prefer KALU or NX?

Kaiser Aluminum currently has a consensus target price of $77.00, suggesting a potential downside of 23.75%. Quanex Building Products has a consensus target price of $38.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.98%. Given Quanex Building Products' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Quanex Building Products is more favorable than Kaiser Aluminum.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kaiser Aluminum	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Quanex Building Products	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more volatility & risk, KALU or NX?

Kaiser Aluminum has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Quanex Building Products has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is KALU or NX a better dividend stock?

Kaiser Aluminum pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Quanex Building Products pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Kaiser Aluminum pays out 89.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Quanex Building Products pays out 12.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor KALU or NX?

Quanex Building Products received 45 more outperform votes than Kaiser Aluminum when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.47% of users gave Quanex Building Products an outperform vote while only 57.29% of users gave Kaiser Aluminum an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Kaiser Aluminum	Outperform Votes 283 57.29%	Underperform Votes 211 42.71%
Quanex Building Products	Outperform Votes 328 65.47%	Underperform Votes 173 34.53%

Does the media prefer KALU or NX?

In the previous week, Kaiser Aluminum had 2 more articles in the media than Quanex Building Products. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Kaiser Aluminum and 1 mentions for Quanex Building Products. Quanex Building Products' average media sentiment score of 1.81 beat Kaiser Aluminum's score of 0.93 indicating that Quanex Building Products is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Kaiser Aluminum	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Quanex Building Products	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of KALU or NX?

99.3% of Kaiser Aluminum shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.5% of Quanex Building Products shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Kaiser Aluminum shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Quanex Building Products shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is KALU or NX more profitable?

Quanex Building Products has a net margin of 7.84% compared to Kaiser Aluminum's net margin of 1.85%. Quanex Building Products' return on equity of 17.11% beat Kaiser Aluminum's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kaiser Aluminum	1.85%	8.40%	2.39%
Quanex Building Products	7.84%	17.11%	10.94%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, KALU or NX?

Quanex Building Products has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Kaiser Aluminum. Quanex Building Products is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kaiser Aluminum, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kaiser Aluminum	$3.09B	0.53	$47.20M	$3.44	29.35
Quanex Building Products	$1.13B	0.99	$82.50M	$2.63	12.90

Summary

Quanex Building Products beats Kaiser Aluminum on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.