Innospec (IOSP) Competitors

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) and Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) are related mid-cap companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Which has more risk and volatility, FFBC or IOSP?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Innospec has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FFBC or IOSP a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Innospec pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 40.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Innospec pays out 215.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. First Financial Bancorp. has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Innospec has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. First Financial Bancorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has better earnings & valuation, FFBC or IOSP?

First Financial Bancorp. has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Innospec. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Innospec, 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
First Financial Bancorp.	$1.62B	1.54	$228.83M	$2.50	10.44
Innospec	$1.85B	1.12	$35.60M	$0.78	106.51

Does the media favor FFBC or IOSP?

In the previous week, First Financial Bancorp. had 2 more articles in the media than Innospec. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for First Financial Bancorp. and 4 mentions for Innospec. Innospec's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat First Financial Bancorp.'s score of 1.24 indicating that Innospec is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Financial Bancorp.	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Innospec	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of FFBC or IOSP?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of Innospec shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Innospec shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is FFBC or IOSP more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 19.41% compared to Innospec's net margin of 1.08%. Innospec's return on equity of 10.89% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	19.41%	10.57%	1.42%
Innospec	1.08%	10.89%	7.70%

Do analysts recommend FFBC or IOSP?

First Financial Bancorp. currently has a consensus target price of $29.40, indicating a potential upside of 12.60%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe First Financial Bancorp. is more favorable than Innospec.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Innospec	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00

Summary

Innospec beats First Financial Bancorp. on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.