Alcoa (AA) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility and risk, AA or CENX?

Alcoa has a beta of 2.26, indicating that its stock price is 126% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Century Aluminum has a beta of 2.55, indicating that its stock price is 155% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AA or CENX 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
Alcoa	7.86%	19.18%	7.44%
Century Aluminum	4.94%	18.02%	6.21%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in AA or CENX?

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

Do analysts rate AA or CENX?

Alcoa currently has a consensus price target of $41.75, indicating a potential upside of 25.53%. Century Aluminum has a consensus price target of $25.67, indicating a potential downside of 1.62%. Given Alcoa's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Alcoa is more favorable than Century Aluminum.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alcoa	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.42
Century Aluminum	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.25

Does the media refer more to AA or CENX?

In the previous week, Alcoa had 5 more articles in the media than Century Aluminum. MarketBeat recorded 29 mentions for Alcoa and 24 mentions for Century Aluminum. Century Aluminum's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat Alcoa's score of 1.01 indicating that Century Aluminum is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alcoa	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Century Aluminum	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, AA or CENX?

Century Aluminum has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
Alcoa	$11.90B	0.72	$60M	$3.83	8.68
Century Aluminum	$2.43B	1.00	$336.80M	$1.16	22.49

Summary

Century Aluminum beats Alcoa on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.