Cemex (NYSE:CX) and United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) Critical Comparison

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

Dividends

United States Lime & Minerals pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Cemex pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. United States Lime & Minerals pays out 5.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cemex pays out 27.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. United States Lime & Minerals has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for United States Lime & Minerals and Cemex, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United States Lime & Minerals	0	0	1	0	3.00
Cemex	1	3	7	0	2.55

Cemex has a consensus target price of $13.92, indicating a potential upside of 29.84%. Given Cemex’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cemex is more favorable than United States Lime & Minerals.

Volatility and Risk

United States Lime & Minerals has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cemex has a beta of 1.51, suggesting that its share price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United States Lime & Minerals and Cemex”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United States Lime & Minerals	$372.73 million	8.59	$134.27 million	$4.67	23.90
Cemex	$16.13 billion	0.96	$960.00 million	$0.44	24.36

Cemex has higher revenue and earnings than United States Lime & Minerals. United States Lime & Minerals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cemex, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.1% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Cemex shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Cemex shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United States Lime & Minerals	35.66%	20.76%	19.24%
Cemex	3.60%	5.18%	2.43%

Summary

United States Lime & Minerals beats Cemex on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Cemex

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, distributes, and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, urbanization solutions, and other construction materials and services worldwide. The company offers gray ordinary portland, white portland, oil-well, and blended cement products; mortar; and standard ready-mix, architectural and decorative, rapid-setting, fiber-reinforced, fluid-fill, roller-compacted, self-consolidating, pervious, and antibacterial, and other concrete products. It also provides crushed stone, sand, gravel, and recycled concrete products; performance materials, such as admixtures, mortars, special mortars, and asphalt; and waste management services comprising municipal and industrial, construction, demolition and excavation, and alternative raw materials. In addition, the company construction related services, including logistics and transportation, retail, pavement services, design and engineering, and others; and industrial construction products consist of precast components, 2D panels, 3D modules, and complete structures. CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico.