Minerals Technologies (MTX) Competitors

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) and Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Which has better valuation & earnings, MTX or IOSP?

Minerals Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Innospec. Innospec is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Minerals Technologies, 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
Minerals Technologies	$2.12B	0.95	$167.10M	$0.06	1,063.63
Innospec	$1.85B	1.17	$35.60M	$0.78	111.69

Is MTX or IOSP more profitable?

Innospec has a net margin of 1.08% compared to Minerals Technologies' net margin of 0.10%. Innospec's return on equity of 10.89% beat Minerals Technologies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Minerals Technologies	0.10%	10.64%	5.34%
Innospec	1.08%	10.89%	7.70%

Do analysts recommend MTX or IOSP?

Minerals Technologies currently has a consensus target price of $84.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.62%. Given Minerals Technologies' higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Minerals Technologies is more favorable than Innospec.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Minerals Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Innospec	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MTX or IOSP?

97.3% of Minerals Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of Innospec shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of Minerals Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Innospec shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer MTX or IOSP?

In the previous week, Minerals Technologies had 5 more articles in the media than Innospec. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Minerals Technologies and 5 mentions for Innospec. Innospec's average media sentiment score of 1.66 beat Minerals Technologies' score of 1.47 indicating that Innospec is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Minerals Technologies	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Innospec	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is MTX or IOSP a better dividend stock?

Minerals Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Innospec pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Minerals Technologies pays out 733.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Innospec pays out 215.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Minerals Technologies has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Innospec has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Innospec is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, MTX or IOSP?

Minerals Technologies has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Innospec has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Innospec beats Minerals Technologies on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.