Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) Competitors

Potlatch (NASDAQ:PCH) and Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX) are both mid-cap construction companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Is PCH or LPX a better dividend stock?

Potlatch pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Louisiana-Pacific pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Potlatch pays out 339.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Louisiana-Pacific pays out 26.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Louisiana-Pacific has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, PCH or LPX?

Louisiana-Pacific has higher revenue and earnings than Potlatch. Louisiana-Pacific is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Potlatch, 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
Potlatch	$1.06B	3.11	$21.88M	$0.53	80.70
Louisiana-Pacific	$2.94B	2.13	$420M	$4.24	21.25

Do institutionals & insiders believe in PCH or LPX?

86.1% of Potlatch shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.7% of Louisiana-Pacific shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Potlatch shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Louisiana-Pacific shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is PCH or LPX more profitable?

Louisiana-Pacific has a net margin of 10.34% compared to Potlatch's net margin of 3.94%. Louisiana-Pacific's return on equity of 18.67% beat Potlatch's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Potlatch	3.94%	2.10%	1.29%
Louisiana-Pacific	10.34%	18.67%	12.19%

Do analysts rate PCH or LPX?

Potlatch currently has a consensus target price of $49.33, indicating a potential upside of 15.35%. Louisiana-Pacific has a consensus target price of $110.57, indicating a potential upside of 22.73%. Given Louisiana-Pacific's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Louisiana-Pacific is more favorable than Potlatch.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Potlatch	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Louisiana-Pacific	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has more volatility and risk, PCH or LPX?

Potlatch has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Louisiana-Pacific has a beta of 1.8, suggesting that its stock price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor PCH or LPX?

In the previous week, Potlatch had 27 more articles in the media than Louisiana-Pacific. MarketBeat recorded 35 mentions for Potlatch and 8 mentions for Louisiana-Pacific. Louisiana-Pacific's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Potlatch's score of 0.06 indicating that Louisiana-Pacific is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Potlatch	5 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	16 Neutral mention(s)	6 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Louisiana-Pacific	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Louisiana-Pacific beats Potlatch on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.