Innospec (IOSP) Competitors

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

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 institutionals and insiders 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, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable earnings and 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	1.44	$228.83M	$2.50	9.72
Innospec	$1.85B	1.00	$35.60M	$0.78	95.37

Does the media refer more to FFBC or IOSP?

In the previous week, First Financial Bancorp. had 1 more articles in the media than Innospec. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for First Financial Bancorp. and 5 mentions for Innospec. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 0.22 beat Innospec's score of -0.20 indicating that First Financial Bancorp. is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Do analysts rate FFBC or IOSP?

First Financial Bancorp. presently has a consensus target price of $29.83, indicating a potential upside of 22.77%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s higher probable upside, analysts plainly 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)	4 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Innospec	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

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 4.1%. Innospec pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. 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 raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Innospec has raised 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 more volatility and risk, FFBC or IOSP?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Innospec has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Financial Bancorp. and Innospec tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.