Alcoa (AA) Competitors

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) and Alcoa (NYSE:AA) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Do analysts prefer CENX or AA?

Century Aluminum currently has a consensus target price of $24.67, suggesting a potential upside of 11.06%. Alcoa has a consensus target price of $41.23, suggesting a potential upside of 30.11%. Given Alcoa's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Alcoa is more favorable than Century Aluminum.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Century Aluminum	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.25
Alcoa	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.46

Does the media refer more to CENX or AA?

In the previous week, Alcoa had 10 more articles in the media than Century Aluminum. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Alcoa and 11 mentions for Century Aluminum. Century Aluminum's average media sentiment score of 1.41 beat Alcoa's score of 1.06 indicating that Century Aluminum is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Century Aluminum	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alcoa	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of CENX or AA?

61.6% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.4% of Alcoa shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Alcoa shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, CENX or AA?

Century Aluminum has a beta of 2.53, indicating that its share price is 153% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alcoa has a beta of 2.24, indicating that its share price is 124% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CENX or AA more profitable?

Alcoa has a net margin of 7.86% compared to Century Aluminum's net margin of 4.94%. Alcoa's return on equity of 19.18% beat Century Aluminum's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Century Aluminum	4.94%	18.02%	6.21%
Alcoa	7.86%	19.18%	7.44%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, CENX or AA?

Century Aluminum has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Alcoa. Alcoa is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Century Aluminum, 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
Century Aluminum	$2.22B	0.93	$336.80M	$1.16	19.15
Alcoa	$12.78B	0.64	$60M	$3.83	8.27

Summary

Alcoa beats Century Aluminum on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.