Critical Contrast: Mativ (NYSE:MATV) and Loop Industries (NASDAQ:LOOP)

Mativ (NYSE:MATV) and Loop Industries (NASDAQ:LOOP) are both small-cap materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Mativ and Loop Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mativ	0	1	0	0	2.00
Loop Industries	0	1	0	0	2.00

Profitability

This table compares Mativ and Loop Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mativ	4.50%	13.53%	3.08%
Loop Industries	-2,154.12%	N/A	-135.81%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.0% of Mativ shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.9% of Loop Industries shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Mativ shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 49.7% of Loop Industries shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Mativ and Loop Industries”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mativ	$1.99 billion	0.32	-$337.40 million	$1.58	7.21
Loop Industries	$510,000.00	31.31	-$12.30 million	($0.25)	-1.32

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

Volatility and Risk

Mativ has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Loop Industries has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Mativ beats Loop Industries on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mativ

Mativ Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells specialty materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Advanced Technical Materials and Fiber-Based Solutions. The Advanced Technical Materials manufactures and sells various engineered polymer, resin and fiber-based substrates, nets, films, adhesive tapes, and other nonwovens for the filtration, protective solutions, release liners, and healthcare end-markets. This segment sells its products directly, as well as through sales agents and distributors. The Fiber-Based Solutions segment produces packaging and specialty paper products. This segment provides premium packaging products that are used for wine, spirits and beer labels, folding cartons, box wrap, bags, hang tags, and stored value cards servicing retail, cosmetics, spirits, and electronics end-use markets; and premium papers, which are used in commercial printing services, advertising collateral, stationery, corporate identity packages and brochures, direct mail, business cards, and other uses. It also offers branded paper-based products for the consumer channel, such as bright papers, cardstock, stationery paper, envelopes, journals, and planners. This segment distributes its products through authorized paper distributors, converters, retailers, and specialty business converters, as well as directly to end-users. The company was formerly known as Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and changed its name to Mativ Holdings, Inc. in July 2022. Mativ Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.

About Loop Industries

Loop Industries, Inc., a technology company, focuses on depolymerizing waste polyethylene terephthalate PET plastics and polyester fibers, including plastic bottles, packaging, carpets and textiles of any color, transparency and even ocean plastics that have been degraded by the sun and salt, to its base building blocks. Its polymerized monomers into virgin-quality PET resins for use in food-grade plastic packaging, such as plastic bottles for water and carbonated soft drinks, and containers for food and other consumer products; and polyester fibers, including textiles, clothing, and apparel. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is based in Terrebonne, Canada.