Financial Survey: Brenntag (OTCMKTS:BNTGY) and Chemours (NYSE:CC)

Chemours (NYSE:CC) and Brenntag (OTCMKTS:BNTGY) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Chemours has a beta of 1.6, suggesting that its stock price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brenntag has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Chemours and Brenntag, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chemours	2	5	5	0	2.25
Brenntag	3	6	0	0	1.67

Chemours presently has a consensus target price of $18.40, suggesting a potential downside of 14.92%. Brenntag has a consensus target price of $12.80, suggesting a potential downside of 0.78%. Given Brenntag’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Brenntag is more favorable than Chemours.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Chemours and Brenntag”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chemours	$5.81 billion	0.56	-$386.00 million	($2.48)	-8.72
Brenntag	$17.16 billion	0.54	$299.30 million	$0.41	31.46

Brenntag has higher revenue and earnings than Chemours. Chemours is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brenntag, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Chemours and Brenntag’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chemours	-6.41%	41.75%	1.92%
Brenntag	1.71%	5.88%	2.37%

Dividends

Chemours pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Brenntag pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Chemours pays out -14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Brenntag pays out 68.3% 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.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

76.3% of Chemours shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Chemours shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

About Chemours

The Chemours Company provides performance chemicals in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It operates through three segments: Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials. The Titanium Technologies segment provides TiO2 pigment under the Ti-Pure brand for delivering whiteness, brightness, opacity, durability, efficiency, and protection in various of applications, such as architectural and industrial coatings, flexible and rigid plastic packaging, polyvinylchloride, laminate papers used for furniture and building materials, coated paper, and coated paperboard used for packaging. The Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment offers of refrigerants, thermal management solutions, propellants, foam blowing agents, and specialty solvents. The Advanced Performance Materials segment products portfolio includes various industrial resins, specialty products, membranes, and coatings for electronics, communications, transportation, wire and cable, energy, oil and gas, and medical, and other applications under the eflon, Viton, Krytox, and Nafion brands. The company sells its products through direct and indirect channels, as well as through a network of resellers and distributors. The Chemours Company was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.

About Brenntag

Brenntag SE purchases and supplies various industrial and specialty chemicals, and ingredients in Germany, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Brenntag Essentials and Brenntag Specialties. It provides just-in-time delivery, product mixing, blending, repackaging, inventory management, and drum return handling. The company serves customers in various end-market industries, including nutrition, pharma, personal care, water treatment, and lubricants; and home, industrial, and institutional markets, as well as coatings and constructions, polymers, and rubber industries. The company was founded in 1874 and is based in Essen, Germany.