Reliance (RS) Competitors

Reliance (NYSE:RS) and Nucor (NYSE:NUE) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability, risk, community ranking, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Is RS or NUE more profitable?

Nucor has a net margin of 6.60% compared to Reliance's net margin of 6.33%. Reliance's return on equity of 11.87% beat Nucor's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Reliance	6.33%	11.87%	8.63%
Nucor	6.60%	9.85%	6.25%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer RS or NUE?

Nucor received 212 more outperform votes than Reliance when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.82% of users gave Reliance an outperform vote while only 64.29% of users gave Nucor an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Reliance	Outperform Votes 481 64.82%	Underperform Votes 261 35.18%
Nucor	Outperform Votes 693 64.29%	Underperform Votes 385 35.71%

Does the media favor RS or NUE?

In the previous week, Nucor had 16 more articles in the media than Reliance. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for Nucor and 27 mentions for Reliance. Nucor's average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat Reliance's score of 0.79 indicating that Nucor is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Reliance	15 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Nucor	22 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in RS or NUE?

79.3% of Reliance shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.5% of Nucor shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Reliance shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Nucor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is RS or NUE a better dividend stock?

Reliance pays an annual dividend of $4.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Nucor pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Reliance pays out 31.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nucor pays out 26.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Reliance has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Nucor has raised its dividend for 52 consecutive years.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, RS or NUE?

Nucor has higher revenue and earnings than Reliance. Nucor is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Reliance, 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
Reliance	$13.84B	1.08	$1.34B	$15.44	18.34
Nucor	$30.73B	0.99	$2.03B	$8.41	15.73

Do analysts prefer RS or NUE?

Reliance presently has a consensus target price of $329.17, indicating a potential upside of 16.25%. Nucor has a consensus target price of $164.33, indicating a potential upside of 24.25%. Given Nucor's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Nucor is more favorable than Reliance.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Reliance	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Nucor	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Which has more volatility & risk, RS or NUE?

Reliance has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nucor has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its stock price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Nucor beats Reliance on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.