Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN – Get Free Report) and Nissan Chemical (OTCMKTS:NNCHY – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Volatility & Risk
Hawkins has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nissan Chemical has a beta of -0.23, meaning that its stock price is 123% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings for Hawkins and Nissan Chemical, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Hawkins | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2.40 |
| Nissan Chemical | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Profitability
This table compares Hawkins and Nissan Chemical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Hawkins | 7.75% | 16.85% | 8.93% |
| Nissan Chemical | 17.07% | 19.08% | 13.77% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Hawkins and Nissan Chemical”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Hawkins | $1.06 billion | 3.01 | $84.35 million | $3.95 | 38.75 |
| Nissan Chemical | $1.65 billion | 3.12 | $284.08 million | $2.29 | 16.66 |
Nissan Chemical has higher revenue and earnings than Hawkins. Nissan Chemical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hawkins, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
Hawkins pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Nissan Chemical pays an annual dividend of $0.57 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Hawkins pays out 19.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nissan Chemical pays out 24.9% 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. Hawkins has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
69.7% of Hawkins shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% of Hawkins shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Hawkins beats Nissan Chemical on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Hawkins
Hawkins, Inc. operates as a specialty chemical and ingredients company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Water Treatment, and Health and Nutrition. The Industrial segment offers industrial chemicals, products, and services to agriculture, chemical processing, electronics, energy, food, pharmaceutical, and plating industries. This segment manufactures sodium hypochlorite and agricultural products, as well as various food-grade and pharmaceutical products, such as liquid phosphates, lactates, other blended products, and agricultural products; and receives, stores, and distributes various chemicals comprising liquid caustic soda, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, urea, phosphoric acid, aqua ammonia, and potassium hydroxide. It also repackages water treatment chemicals and bulk industrial chemicals; and performs custom blending of chemicals. The Water Treatment segment provides chemicals, products, equipment, services, and solutions for potable water, municipal and industrial wastewater, industrial process water, non-residential swimming pool water, and agriculture water. The Health and Nutrition segment offers ingredient distribution, processing, and formulation solutions to manufacturers of nutraceutical, functional food and beverage, personal care, dietary supplement and other nutritional food, and health and wellness products. Its products portfolio includes minerals, vitamins and amino acids, excipients, joint products, botanicals and herbs, sweeteners, and enzymes. Hawkins, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Roseville, Minnesota.
About Nissan Chemical
Nissan Chemical Corporation engages in the chemicals, performance materials, agricultural chemicals, and pharmaceuticals businesses in Japan and internationally. The company provides high purity chemicals; AdBlue, an urea solution; ammonia, sulfuric, and nitric acid, as well as concrete and civil engineering-related products; TEPIC, an epoxy compound; Melamine Cyanurate, a salt of melamine and iso cyanuric acid; TEPIC-VL, a liquid epoxy compound; TEPIC-FL, a liquid epoxy material; FOLDI-E101, an epoxy reactive diluent; Ecopromote, a nucleating agents for PLA; Nissan Reishi, a health food; phenylphosphonic acid; HI-LITE, a chlorinated isocyanulate; OPTBEADS, a melamine-formaldehyde resin and silica; and FINEOXOCOL, a saturated fatty alcohol and acid. It also offers performance materials comprising display, semiconductor, and inorganic materials; agricultural chemicals, such as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc. for use on agricultural land, as well as in golf courses and parks; and drug substances for antiparasite drugs for animals. In addition, the company provides pharmaceutical products, such as LIVALO, a antihypercholesterolemic agent; LANDEL and FINTE, a long-acting calcium channel blocker; APIs and intermediaries; and manufacturing and process researching services for pharmaceutical ingredients. Further, it develops healthcare, information and communication materials, and environmental and energy materials. The company was formerly known as Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd. and changed its name to Nissan Chemical Corporation in July 2018. Nissan Chemical Corporation was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
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