Critical Review: Mativ (MATV) and The Competition

Mativ (NYSE:MATV) is one of 295 publicly-traded companies in the “Chemicals” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Mativ to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Dividends

Mativ pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Mativ pays out 25.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Chemicals” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.1% and pay out 109.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Mativ has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Mativ is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility and Risk

Mativ has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mativ’s competitors have a beta of 1.25, indicating that their average share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Mativ and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mativ	4.50%	13.53%	3.08%
Mativ Competitors	-61.10%	1.20%	-1.42%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Mativ and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mativ	$1.99 billion	-$337.40 million	7.17
Mativ Competitors	$6.36 billion	$222.31 million	-7.91

Mativ’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Mativ. Mativ is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Mativ and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mativ	0	1	0	0	2.00
Mativ Competitors	3233	12147	14071	515	2.40

As a group, “Chemicals” companies have a potential upside of 7.43%. Given Mativ’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mativ has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.9% of Mativ shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Mativ shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.1% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Mativ competitors beat Mativ on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

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.