Olympic Steel (ZEUS) Competitors

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) and Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation and profitability.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, ZEUS or LIN?

Linde has higher revenue and earnings than Olympic Steel. Olympic Steel is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Linde, 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
Olympic Steel	$1.91B	0.20	$22.98M	$1.43	23.53
Linde	$33.01B	6.57	$6.57B	$13.77	33.47

Which has more volatility and risk, ZEUS or LIN?

Olympic Steel has a beta of 1.66, meaning that its share price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Linde has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ZEUS or LIN a better dividend stock?

Olympic Steel pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Olympic Steel pays out 44.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Linde pays out 43.6% 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. Olympic Steel has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Linde has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate ZEUS or LIN?

Olympic Steel presently has a consensus target price of $41.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.82%. Linde has a consensus target price of $518.80, indicating a potential upside of 12.58%. Given Olympic Steel's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Olympic Steel is more favorable than Linde.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Olympic Steel	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Linde	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ZEUS or LIN?

87.1% of Olympic Steel shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Linde shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.8% of Olympic Steel shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Linde shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is ZEUS or LIN more profitable?

Linde has a net margin of 20.02% compared to Olympic Steel's net margin of 0.88%. Linde's return on equity of 18.95% beat Olympic Steel's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Olympic Steel	0.88%	2.16%	1.20%
Linde	20.02%	18.95%	9.26%

Does the media prefer ZEUS or LIN?

In the previous week, Linde had 34 more articles in the media than Olympic Steel. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for Linde and 2 mentions for Olympic Steel. Linde's average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Olympic Steel's score of 1.24 indicating that Linde is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Olympic Steel	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Linde	34 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Linde beats Olympic Steel on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.