Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) & Tredegar (NYSE:TG) Critical Comparison

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) and Tredegar (NYSE:TG) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Freeport-McMoRan and Tredegar”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Freeport-McMoRan	$25.91 billion	3.84	$2.20 billion	$2.03	34.10
Tredegar	$722.86 million	0.33	$33.48 million	$0.96	7.19

Freeport-McMoRan has higher revenue and earnings than Tredegar. Tredegar is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Freeport-McMoRan, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.2% of Tredegar shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Tredegar shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Freeport-McMoRan and Tredegar, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freeport-McMoRan	0	4	20	1	2.88
Tredegar	0	1	0	0	2.00

Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus target price of $70.29, suggesting a potential upside of 1.55%. Given Freeport-McMoRan’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Freeport-McMoRan is more favorable than Tredegar.

Profitability

This table compares Freeport-McMoRan and Tredegar’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freeport-McMoRan	11.39%	10.63%	5.69%
Tredegar	4.26%	14.52%	8.07%

Risk & Volatility

Freeport-McMoRan has a beta of 1.41, suggesting that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tredegar has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Freeport-McMoRan beats Tredegar on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

About Tredegar

Tredegar Corporation manufactures and sells aluminum extrusions, polyethylene (PE) films, and plastic and polyester films in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Aluminum Extrusions, PE Films, and Flexible Packaging Films. The Aluminum Extrusions segment produces soft and medium strength alloyed aluminum extrusions, custom fabricated and finished aluminum extrusions for the building and construction, automotive and transportation, consumer durables, machinery and equipment, electrical and renewable energy, and distribution markets; and manufactures mill, anodized, and painted and alloyed aluminum extrusions to fabricators and distributors. The PE Films segment offers single- and multi-layer surface protection films for protecting components of flat panel and flexible displays that are used in televisions, monitors, notebooks, smart phones, tablets, e-readers, and digital signage under the UltraMask, ForceField, ForceField PEARL, Pearl A, and Obsidian brands. This segment provides polyethylene overwrap for bathroom tissue and paper towels, as well as polyethylene overwrap films and films for other markets. The Flexible Packaging Films segment offers polyester-based films for food packaging and industrial applications under the Ecophane and Sealphane brands. Tredegar Corporation was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.