Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal (OTCMKTS:NPSCY) vs. L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) Head to Head Contrast

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal (OTCMKTS:NPSCY) and L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, L.B. Foster has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.6% of L.B. Foster shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.7% of L.B. Foster shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal and L.B. Foster, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal	0	0	0	0	0.00
L.B. Foster	1	1	0	0	1.50

L.B. Foster has a consensus target price of $25.00, suggesting a potential downside of 10.68%. Given L.B. Foster’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe L.B. Foster is more favorable than Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal.

Profitability

This table compares Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal and L.B. Foster’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal	-0.42%	-0.61%	-0.30%
L.B. Foster	7.19%	3.64%	1.88%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal and L.B. Foster”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal	$57.10 billion	0.41	$2.31 billion	($0.03)	-244.67
L.B. Foster	$530.77 million	0.56	$42.95 million	$3.32	8.43

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal has higher revenue and earnings than L.B. Foster. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than L.B. Foster, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

L.B. Foster beats Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal

Nippon Steel Corporation engages in steelmaking and steel fabrication, engineering and construction, chemicals and materials, and system solutions businesses in Japan and internationally. The company offers steel plates, sheets, and slags; bar and rod materials; structural steel; pipes and tubes; titanium and stainless products; and railway, automotive, and machinery parts for applications in automotive, energy, infrastructure, and consumer electronics markets. It is also involved in construction; waste processing and recycling; supplying electricity, gas, and heat; and the provision of coal-based chemical products, petrochemicals, electronic materials, materials and components for semiconductors and electronic parts, carbon fiber, and composite products. In addition, the company offers computer systems engineering and consulting, IT-enabled outsourcing, and other services. The company was formerly known as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation and changed its name to Nippon Steel Corporation in April 2019. The company was incorporated in 1950 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About L.B. Foster

L.B. Foster Company provides engineered and manufactured products and services for the building and infrastructure projects in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Rail, Technologies, and Services; and Infrastructure Solutions. The Rail, Technologies, and Services segment offers new rail to passenger and short line freight railroads, industrial companies, and rail contractors, as well as used rails; rail accessories, such as rack spikes, bolts, angle bars, tie plates, and other products; insulated rail joints and related accessories; fixation fasteners, coverboards, and special accessories; and trackwork products. This segment also provides engineered concrete railroad ties, friction management products and application systems, railroad condition monitoring systems and equipment including wheel impact load detection systems, wayside data collection and management systems, and rockfall, flood, earthworks, and bridge strike monitoring; and aftermarket services. The Infrastructure Solutions segment manufactures precast concrete products for use as restrooms, concession stands, and protective storage buildings under the CXT brand for national, state, and municipal parks; and manufactures sounds walls, bridge beams, box culverts, septic tanks, and other custom pre-stressed and precast concrete products. This segment also provides steel bridge products; corrosion protection solutions; concrete-reinforced steel grid decking, open steel grid deck, aluminum bridge railing, and stay-in-place steel bridge forms; cuts, threads, and paints pipe; threading services for water well applications; protective pipeline coating services; and turnkey solutions for metering and injection systems for oil and gas markets. L.B. Foster Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.