STLD vs. LIN, ZEUS, AEM, CLF, CMC, MT, NTR, NUE, PPG, and RS
Should you be buying Steel Dynamics stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Steel Dynamics include Linde (LIN), Olympic Steel (ZEUS), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF), Commercial Metals (CMC), ArcelorMittal (MT), Nutrien (NTR), Nucor (NUE), PPG Industries (PPG), and Reliance (RS). These companies are all part of the "basic materials" sector.
Steel Dynamics vs. Its Competitors
Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) and Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.
Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Steel Dynamics pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Linde pays out 42.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Steel Dynamics pays out 29.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Linde has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Steel Dynamics has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Steel Dynamics is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Linde presently has a consensus target price of $519.63, suggesting a potential upside of 9.60%. Steel Dynamics has a consensus target price of $149.40, suggesting a potential upside of 9.55%. Given Linde's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Linde is more favorable than Steel Dynamics.
82.8% of Linde shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.4% of Steel Dynamics shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Linde shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Steel Dynamics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Linde has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Steel Dynamics has a beta of 1.4, suggesting that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Linde had 27 more articles in the media than Steel Dynamics. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for Linde and 14 mentions for Steel Dynamics. Linde's average media sentiment score of 1.57 beat Steel Dynamics' score of 0.43 indicating that Linde is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Linde has a net margin of 20.20% compared to Steel Dynamics' net margin of 6.07%. Linde's return on equity of 19.09% beat Steel Dynamics' return on equity.
Linde has higher revenue and earnings than Steel Dynamics. Steel Dynamics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Linde, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Linde beats Steel Dynamics on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Steel Dynamics News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for STLD and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding STLD and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Skip Chart
Steel Dynamics Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NASDAQ:STLD) was last updated on 9/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff