Head-To-Head Contrast: Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) vs. ThyssenKrupp (OTCMKTS:TKAMY)

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) and ThyssenKrupp (OTCMKTS:TKAMY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.1% of Olympic Steel shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.8% of Olympic Steel shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Olympic Steel pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. ThyssenKrupp pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Olympic Steel pays out 52.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ThyssenKrupp pays out -7.0% 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Olympic Steel and ThyssenKrupp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Olympic Steel	$1.94 billion	0.16	$22.98 million	$1.22	22.56
ThyssenKrupp	$38.01 billion	0.24	-$1.63 billion	($1.42)	-10.47

Olympic Steel has higher earnings, but lower revenue than ThyssenKrupp. ThyssenKrupp 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

Olympic Steel has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its stock price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ThyssenKrupp has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Olympic Steel and ThyssenKrupp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Olympic Steel	0	1	1	0	2.50
ThyssenKrupp	1	1	0	1	2.33

Olympic Steel currently has a consensus price target of $38.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.08%. Given Olympic Steel’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Olympic Steel is more favorable than ThyssenKrupp.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Olympic Steel	0.77%	1.95%	1.07%
ThyssenKrupp	-2.40%	-7.90%	-2.80%

Summary

Olympic Steel beats ThyssenKrupp on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Olympic Steel

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.

About ThyssenKrupp

thyssenkrupp AG operates as an industrial and technology company in Germany and internationally. It operates through five segments: Automotive Technology, Decarbon Technologies, Materials Services, Steel Europe, and Marine Systems. The Automotive Technology segment offers components, systems, and automation solutions for vehicle manufacturing, such as axle assembly, body in white, camshafts and electric engine components, dampers, dies, springs and stabilizers, crankshafts and conrods, steering, and undercarriages. The Decarbon Technologies segment provides slewing bearings and rings, green ammonia and methanol, chemical and cement plants, high pressure processing, and refinery services, as well as green hydrogen. The Marine System segment manufactures submarines, naval services, and naval surface vessels. The Material Services segment offers 3D-printing/additive manufacturing, alloys, infrastructure project and services, industrial minerals, logistics services, metals, nonferrous metals, plastics, rolled steel, special ores, and stainless steel. The Steel Europe segment manufactures composite materials, electrical steel, hot strips, organic coated strips and sheet, packaging steel, precision steel strip, and sheet and coated products. thyssenkrupp AG was founded in 1811 and is headquartered in Essen, Germany.