Head to Head Review: Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) and General Steel (OTCMKTS:GSIH)

General Steel (OTCMKTS:GSIH) and Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares General Steel and Olympic Steel”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
General Steel	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Olympic Steel	$1.94 billion	0.23	$22.98 million	$1.17	34.35

Olympic Steel has higher revenue and earnings than General Steel.

Profitability

This table compares General Steel and Olympic Steel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
General Steel	N/A	N/A	N/A
Olympic Steel	0.73%	2.11%	1.14%

Risk & Volatility

General Steel has a beta of -1.08, indicating that its stock price is 208% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Olympic Steel has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its stock price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for General Steel and Olympic Steel, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
General Steel	0	0	0	0	0.00
Olympic Steel	1	0	1	0	2.00

Olympic Steel has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.45%. Given Olympic Steel’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Olympic Steel is more favorable than General Steel.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.1% of Olympic Steel shares are held by institutional investors. 53.3% of General Steel shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.8% of Olympic Steel shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Olympic Steel beats General Steel on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About General Steel

General Steel Holdings, Inc. engages in the business of cell research, development, storage, and cell culture service in the People's Republic of China. General Steel Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

About Olympic Steel

Olympic Steel, Inc. processes, distributes, and stores metal products primarily in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It operates in three segments: Carbon Flat Products; Specialty Metals Flat Products; and Tubular and Pipe Products. The company offers stainless steel and aluminum coil and sheet products, angles, rounds, and flat bars; alloy, heat treated, and abrasion resistant coils, sheets and plates; coated metals, including galvanized, galvannealed, electro galvanized, advanced high strength steels, aluminized, and automotive grades of steel; commercial quality, advanced high strength steel, drawing steel, and automotive grades cold rolled steel coil and sheet products; hot rolled carbon comprising hot rolled coil, pickled and oiled sheet and plate steel products, automotive grades, advanced high strength steels, and high strength low alloys; tube, pipe, and bar products, including round, square, and rectangular mechanical and structural tubing; hydraulic and stainless tubing; boiler tubing; carbon, stainless, and aluminum pipes; valves and fittings; and tin mill products, such as electrolytic tinplate, electrolytic chromium coated steel, and black plates. The company also provides cutting-to-length, slitting, shearing, blanking, tempering, stretcher-leveling, plate and laser processing, forming and machining, tube processing, finishing, and fabrication services, as well as value-added services, such as saw cutting, laser cutting, beveling, threading, and grooving services. It serves metal consuming industries, such as manufacturers and fabricators of transportation and material handling lift equipment, construction, mining and farm equipment, agriculture equipment, storage tanks, environmental and energy generation equipment, automobiles, food service, and electrical equipment, as well as general and plate fabricators, and metals service centers through direct sales force. Olympic Steel, Inc. was founded in 1954 and is based in Highland Hills, Ohio.