Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Competitors

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) and Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) are related companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Do analysts prefer FCX or CENX?

Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus target price of $51.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.04%. Century Aluminum has a consensus target price of $25.67, indicating a potential downside of 1.62%. Given Freeport-McMoRan's higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Freeport-McMoRan is more favorable than Century Aluminum.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freeport-McMoRan	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Century Aluminum	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.25

Is FCX or CENX more profitable?

Freeport-McMoRan has a net margin of 7.45% compared to Century Aluminum's net margin of 4.94%. Century Aluminum's return on equity of 18.02% beat Freeport-McMoRan's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freeport-McMoRan	7.45%	7.37%	3.87%
Century Aluminum	4.94%	18.02%	6.21%

Does the media prefer FCX or CENX?

In the previous week, Freeport-McMoRan had 22 more articles in the media than Century Aluminum. MarketBeat recorded 42 mentions for Freeport-McMoRan and 20 mentions for Century Aluminum. Century Aluminum's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Freeport-McMoRan's score of 1.24 indicating that Century Aluminum is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Freeport-McMoRan	27 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Century Aluminum	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher valuation & earnings, FCX or CENX?

Freeport-McMoRan has higher revenue and earnings than Century Aluminum. Century Aluminum is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Freeport-McMoRan, 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
Freeport-McMoRan	$25.46B	2.52	$1.89B	$1.32	33.88
Century Aluminum	$2.22B	1.10	$336.80M	$1.16	22.49

Which has more risk and volatility, FCX or CENX?

Freeport-McMoRan has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its stock price is 59% 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.

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

80.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.6% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Freeport-McMoRan beats Century Aluminum on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.