Head to Head Survey: HudBay Minerals (NYSE:HBM) and Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

HudBay Minerals (NYSE:HBM – Get Free Report) and Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS – Get Free Report) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

57.8% of HudBay Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.1% of Olympic Steel shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of HudBay Minerals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.8% of Olympic Steel shares are held by company 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.

Dividends

HudBay Minerals pays an annual dividend of $0.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Olympic Steel pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. HudBay Minerals pays out 1.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Olympic Steel pays out 54.7% 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. Olympic Steel has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Olympic Steel is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for HudBay Minerals and Olympic Steel, as provided by MarketBeat.

HudBay Minerals presently has a consensus price target of $31.33, suggesting a potential upside of 17.64%. Given HudBay Minerals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe HudBay Minerals is more favorable than Olympic Steel.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares HudBay Minerals and Olympic Steel”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

HudBay Minerals has higher revenue and earnings than Olympic Steel. HudBay Minerals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Olympic Steel, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

HudBay Minerals has a beta of 1.54, indicating that its share price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Olympic Steel has a beta of 1.75, indicating that its share price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares HudBay Minerals and Olympic Steel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Summary

HudBay Minerals beats Olympic Steel on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HudBay Minerals

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Hudbay Minerals Inc., a diversified mining company, focuses on the exploration, development, operation, and optimization of properties in North and South America. It produces copper concentrates containing gold, silver, and molybdenum; gold concentrates containing zinc; zinc concentrates; molybdenum concentrates; and silver/gold doré. The company's flagship project is the 100% owned Constancia mine located in the Province of Chumbivilcas in southern Peru. Hudbay Minerals Inc. was founded in 1927 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

About Olympic Steel

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Olympic Steel, Inc. processes, distributes, and stores metal products primarily in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It operates in three segments: Carbon Flat Products; Specialty Metals Flat Products; and Tubular and Pipe Products. The company offers stainless steel and aluminum coil and sheet products, angles, rounds, and flat bars; alloy, heat treated, and abrasion resistant coils, sheets and plates; coated metals, including galvanized, galvannealed, electro galvanized, advanced high strength steels, aluminized, and automotive grades of steel; commercial quality, advanced high strength steel, drawing steel, and automotive grades cold rolled steel coil and sheet products; hot rolled carbon comprising hot rolled coil, pickled and oiled sheet and plate steel products, automotive grades, advanced high strength steels, and high strength low alloys; tube, pipe, and bar products, including round, square, and rectangular mechanical and structural tubing; hydraulic and stainless tubing; boiler tubing; carbon, stainless, and aluminum pipes; valves and fittings; and tin mill products, such as electrolytic tinplate, electrolytic chromium coated steel, and black plates. The company also provides cutting-to-length, slitting, shearing, blanking, tempering, stretcher-leveling, plate and laser processing, forming and machining, tube processing, finishing, and fabrication services, as well as value-added services, such as saw cutting, laser cutting, beveling, threading, and grooving services. It serves metal consuming industries, such as manufacturers and fabricators of transportation and material handling lift equipment, construction, mining and farm equipment, agriculture equipment, storage tanks, environmental and energy generation equipment, automobiles, food service, and electrical equipment, as well as general and plate fabricators, and metals service centers through direct sales force. Olympic Steel, Inc. was founded in 1954 and is based in Highland Hills, Ohio.