Analyzing United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) & Lafarge (OTCMKTS:LFRGY)

Lafarge (OTCMKTS:LFRGY) and United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Lafarge and United States Lime & Minerals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lafarge	0	0	0	0	0.00
United States Lime & Minerals	0	1	0	0	2.00

Given Lafarge’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Lafarge is more favorable than United States Lime & Minerals.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lafarge and United States Lime & Minerals”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lafarge	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
United States Lime & Minerals	$372.73 million	9.21	$134.27 million	$4.67	25.62

United States Lime & Minerals has higher revenue and earnings than Lafarge.

Profitability

This table compares Lafarge and United States Lime & Minerals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lafarge	N/A	N/A	N/A
United States Lime & Minerals	35.66%	20.76%	19.24%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.1% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

United States Lime & Minerals beats Lafarge on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lafarge

Lafarge SA (Lafarge) is engaged in producing and selling cement, aggregates and ready mix concrete under the Lafarge brand name. The Group offers a range of products, such as cement and hydraulic binders; aggregates and concrete, and other products, such as gypsum. It offers cement products and hydraulic binders, such as Portland cements, cements for different types of environments, cements for masonry and mortars for concrete blocks, tiles, rendering and stucco, and cements for specific applications. Lafarge offers aggregates products for different uses, from concrete to road and highway surfaces, railway ballast, and fill material, among others. It offers concrete products, such as conventional concrete, and concretes for specific applications, such as Agilia for fluidity, Artevia for decorative purposes, Chronolia, Ductal and Hydromedia pervious concrete. Lafarge produces gypsum through its activities in a few countries in the Middle East and Africa region.

About United States Lime & Minerals

United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of lime and limestone products. Its products include High Calcium Quicklime, Hydrated Lime, Lime Kiln Dust, Lime Slurry, and High Calcium Limestone. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.