Comparing FMC (NYSE:FMC) & Nippon Paint (OTCMKTS:NPCPF)

FMC (NYSE:FMC) and Nippon Paint (OTCMKTS:NPCPF) are both materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for FMC and Nippon Paint, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FMC	5	7	4	0	1.94
Nippon Paint	0	1	0	0	2.00

FMC currently has a consensus target price of $11.68, suggesting a potential upside of 106.52%. Given FMC’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe FMC is more favorable than Nippon Paint.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares FMC and Nippon Paint”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FMC	$3.47 billion	0.20	-$2.24 billion	($22.00)	-0.26
Nippon Paint	$11.87 billion	1.56	$1.20 billion	$0.56	14.20

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.9% of FMC shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of FMC shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares FMC and Nippon Paint’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FMC	-84.83%	11.35%	2.65%
Nippon Paint	10.22%	10.65%	4.85%

Summary

Nippon Paint beats FMC on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FMC

FMC Corporation, an agricultural sciences company, provides crop protection, plant health, and professional pest and turf management products. It develops, markets, and sells crop protection chemicals that includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides; and biologicals, crop nutrition, and seed treatment products, which are used in agriculture to enhance crop yield and quality by controlling a range of insects, weeds, and diseases, as well as in non-agricultural markets for pest control. The company markets its products through its own sales organization and through alliance partners, independent distributors, and sales representatives. It operates in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About Nippon Paint

Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd. engages in the paints and fine chemicals businesses. The company offers automotive coatings, including paints for the automotive body, including surface treatment, electrodeposition coating, intermediate coating, and finish coating; paints for plastic components, such as bumpers and interior components; trade-use paints for construction sites, including single-family detached homes, buildings, and bridges; and industrial coatings that are used in a range of products, including construction and farming machinery, exterior construction materials, office equipment, and electric home appliances. It also provides marine coatings, such as antifouling paints; treatment agents for steel and aluminum products; and paints for DIY applications comprising wallpaper, wall cloth, and wooden, steel, and concrete materials. In addition, the company offers surface treatment products comprising functional coatings, which demonstrate various functions, such as hydrophilicity and rust prevention, and substrate films; caulking agents to fill gaps between building materials; adhesives to fix flooring and building materials; and fillers used for base coatings. Further, it is involved in the investment business; manufactures and sells surface treatment agents; and sales of paints and raw materials. The company has operations in Japan, Asia, the Americas, Oceania, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Nippon Paint Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd. in October 2014. Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd. was founded in 1879 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.