Innospec (IOSP) Competitors

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

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in FFBC or IOSP?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of Innospec shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Innospec shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, 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	1.53	$228.83M	$2.41	10.74
Innospec	$1.85B	1.19	$35.60M	$1.08	81.54

Is FFBC or IOSP a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Innospec pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 39.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Innospec pays out 155.6% 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.

Do analysts rate FFBC or IOSP?

First Financial Bancorp. presently has a consensus target price of $28.75, indicating a potential upside of 11.11%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s higher possible upside, equities 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)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
Innospec	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00

Is FFBC or IOSP more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 18.65% compared to Innospec's net margin of 1.51%. Innospec's return on equity of 11.38% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	18.65%	10.44%	1.38%
Innospec	1.51%	11.38%	8.00%

Which has more risk and volatility, FFBC or IOSP?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Innospec has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer FFBC or IOSP?

In the previous week, Innospec had 3 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Innospec and 3 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. Innospec's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat First Financial Bancorp.'s score of 0.30 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.	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Innospec	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Innospec beats First Financial Bancorp. on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.