Comparing AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX) & Nissan Chemical (OTCMKTS:NNCHY)

AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX) and Nissan Chemical (OTCMKTS:NNCHY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.4% of AdvanSix shares are held by institutional investors. 5.0% of AdvanSix shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares AdvanSix and Nissan Chemical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AdvanSix	0.67%	2.18%	1.05%
Nissan Chemical	17.78%	20.57%	14.91%

Volatility and Risk

AdvanSix has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nissan Chemical has a beta of -0.02, indicating that its stock price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

AdvanSix pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Nissan Chemical pays an annual dividend of $0.57 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. AdvanSix pays out 173.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Nissan Chemical pays out 23.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AdvanSix has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. AdvanSix is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AdvanSix and Nissan Chemical”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AdvanSix	$1.52 billion	0.39	$49.29 million	$0.37	60.21
Nissan Chemical	$1.86 billion	3.16	$284.08 million	$2.48	17.54

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for AdvanSix and Nissan Chemical, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AdvanSix	1	2	0	0	1.67
Nissan Chemical	0	1	0	0	2.00

AdvanSix presently has a consensus target price of $22.50, indicating a potential upside of 0.99%. Given AdvanSix’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe AdvanSix is more favorable than Nissan Chemical.

Summary

Nissan Chemical beats AdvanSix on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AdvanSix

AdvanSix Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of polymer resins in the United States and internationally. It offers Nylon 6, a polymer resin, which is a synthetic material used to produce fibers, filaments, engineered plastics, and films. The company also provides caprolactam to manufacture polymer resins; ammonium sulfate fertilizers to distributors, farm cooperatives, and retailers; and acetone that are used in the production of adhesives, paints, coatings, solvents, herbicides, and engineered plastic resins, as well as other intermediate chemicals, including phenol, monoisopropylamine, dipropylamine, monoallylamine, alpha-methylstyrene, cyclohexanone, methyl ethyl ketoxime, acetaldehyde oxime, 2-pentanone oxime, cyclohexanol, sulfuric acid, ammonia, and carbon dioxide. It offers its products under the Aegis, Capran, Sulf-N, Nadone, Naxol, and EZ-Blox brands. The company sells its products directly, as well as through distributors. AdvanSix Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.

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.