Contrasting ICL Group (ICL) and Its Competitors

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) is one of 296 publicly-traded companies in the “Chemicals” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare ICL Group to related businesses based on the strength of its profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and earnings.

Dividends

ICL Group pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. ICL Group pays out 70.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Chemicals” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.1% and pay out 103.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. ICL Group is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

ICL Group has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ICL Group’s peers have a beta of 0.94, indicating that their average share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ICL Group and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ICL Group	3.99%	8.38%	4.12%
ICL Group Competitors	-54.14%	-0.61%	-1.37%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ICL Group and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
ICL Group	$7.15 billion	$226.00 million	19.15
ICL Group Competitors	$6.34 billion	$229.42 million	19.99

ICL Group has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. ICL Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for ICL Group and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ICL Group	0	2	0	0	2.00
ICL Group Competitors	3272	12238	14148	520	2.39

ICL Group currently has a consensus price target of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 30.58%. As a group, “Chemicals” companies have a potential upside of 7.54%. Given ICL Group’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe ICL Group is more favorable than its peers.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

13.4% of ICL Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.4% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of ICL Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

ICL Group beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About ICL Group

ICL Group Ltd. is an Israel-based specialty minerals and chemicals company. Its business draws on resources including potash, phosphate and bromine to produce products for agriculture, food, industrial and other markets. The company supplies crop nutrition products and specialty fertilizers, as well as phosphate ingredients used in food and other applications. Its industrial products include bromine-based compounds, flame retardants, water-treatment chemicals and specialty minerals. ICL also develops materials for energy storage and other advanced applications.