Comparing Ryerson (NYSE:RYZ) & Capstone Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CAPS)

Capstone Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CAPS) and Ryerson (NYSE:RYZ) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Capstone Therapeutics has a beta of -1.5, indicating that its stock price is 250% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ryerson has a beta of 1.57, indicating that its stock price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Capstone Therapeutics and Ryerson”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Capstone Therapeutics	$48.11 million	0.08	-$21.23 million	($3.35)	-0.05
Ryerson	$4.57 billion	0.28	-$56.40 million	($1.24)	-19.61

Capstone Therapeutics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ryerson. Ryerson is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Capstone Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Capstone Therapeutics and Ryerson, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Capstone Therapeutics	1	0	0	0	1.00
Ryerson	1	2	0	0	1.67

Profitability

This table compares Capstone Therapeutics and Ryerson’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Capstone Therapeutics	-36.51%	-144.43%	-40.48%
Ryerson	-0.56%	-0.62%	-0.21%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

2.5% of Capstone Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.8% of Ryerson shares are held by institutional investors. 39.3% of Capstone Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Ryerson shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ryerson beats Capstone Therapeutics on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Capstone Therapeutics

Capstone Therapeutics Corp., a biotechnology company, develops novel peptides and other molecules for helping patients with under-served medical conditions in the United States. It develops Apo E mimetic peptide molecule AEM-28 and its analogs that have completed Phase Ia and Phase Ib/IIa clinical trials for lipoprotein metabolism. The company was formerly known as OrthoLogic Corp. and changed its name to Capstone Therapeutics Corp. in May 2010. Capstone Therapeutics Corp. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.

About Ryerson

Ryerson Holding Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, processes and distributes industrial metals in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China. It offers a line of products in carbon steel, stainless steel, alloy steels, and aluminum, as well as nickel and red metals in various shapes and forms, including coils, sheets, rounds, hexagons, square and flat bars, plates, structural, and tubing. The company also provides various processing services, such as bending, beveling, blanking, blasting, burning, cutting-to-length, drilling, embossing, flattening, forming, grinding, laser cutting, machining, notching, painting, perforating, polishing, punching, rolling, sawing, scribing, shearing, slitting, stamping, tapping, threading, welding, or other techniques to process materials. It serves various industries, including commercial ground transportation, metal fabrication and machine shops, industrial machinery and equipment manufacturing, consumer durable equipment, HVAC manufacturing, construction equipment manufacturing, food processing and agricultural equipment manufacturing, and oil and gas. The company was founded in 1842 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.