Alcoa (AA) Competitors

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

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 stronger valuation and earnings, 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	1.10	$336.80M	$1.16	22.46
Alcoa	$12.78B	0.68	$60M	$3.83	8.76

Does the media prefer CENX or AA?

In the previous week, Century Aluminum and Century Aluminum both had 27 articles in the media. Century Aluminum's average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat Alcoa's score of 0.96 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	12 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alcoa	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, CENX or AA?

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

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

61.6% of Century Aluminum shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.4% of Alcoa shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Century Aluminum shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Alcoa shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate CENX or AA?

Century Aluminum presently has a consensus target price of $25.67, suggesting a potential downside of 1.46%. Alcoa has a consensus target price of $41.75, suggesting a potential upside of 24.43%. Given Alcoa's higher possible 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)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.42

Summary

Alcoa beats Century Aluminum on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.