Comparing Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) and Mitsubishi Chemical Group (OTCMKTS:MTLHF)

Mitsubishi Chemical Group (OTCMKTS:MTLHF) and Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Mitsubishi Chemical Group and Nutrien, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mitsubishi Chemical Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
Nutrien	1	3	17	0	2.76

Nutrien has a consensus target price of $81.58, indicating a potential upside of 19.51%. Given Nutrien’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Nutrien is more favorable than Mitsubishi Chemical Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Mitsubishi Chemical Group and Nutrien”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mitsubishi Chemical Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	$25.94	0.24
Nutrien	$26.89 billion	1.21	$2.27 billion	$4.94	13.82

Nutrien has higher revenue and earnings than Mitsubishi Chemical Group. Mitsubishi Chemical Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nutrien, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

14.7% of Mitsubishi Chemical Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.1% of Nutrien shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of Nutrien shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Mitsubishi Chemical Group pays an annual dividend of $9.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 152.6%. Nutrien pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Mitsubishi Chemical Group pays out 36.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nutrien pays out 44.5% 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. Nutrien has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Mitsubishi Chemical Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Mitsubishi Chemical Group and Nutrien’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mitsubishi Chemical Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nutrien	8.44%	8.88%	4.27%

Summary

Nutrien beats Mitsubishi Chemical Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mitsubishi Chemical Group

Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation provides performance products, chemicals, industrial gases, health care products, and other products in Japan and internationally. The company offers polyester films for various applications, including optical materials, for electronic displays; industrial materials for electronic components, automotive parts, and medical equipment; and packaging materials for food and other products. It also provides high-performance engineering plastics, as well as advanced solutions; industrial materials, such as MMA, petrochemicals, carbon products, and industrial gages; and pharma and regenerative medicines. In addition, the company offers engineering, transportation, and warehousing services. Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products. The Nitrogen segment offers ammonia, urea, environmentally smart nitrogen, nitrogen solutions, nitrates, and sulfates. The Phosphate segment provides solid fertilizer, liquid fertilizer, and industrial and feed products. In addition, it provides services directly to growers through a network of farm centers in North America, South America, and Australia. The company is headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada.