Innospec (IOSP) Competitors

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) and Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, community ranking, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends and profitability.

Is IOSP or ALB more profitable?

Innospec has a net margin of 1.93% compared to Albemarle's net margin of -21.93%. Innospec's return on equity of 12.27% beat Albemarle's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Innospec	1.93%	12.27%	8.54%
Albemarle	-21.93%	-1.72%	-0.84%

Does the media favor IOSP or ALB?

In the previous week, Albemarle had 7 more articles in the media than Innospec. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Albemarle and 5 mentions for Innospec. Innospec's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat Albemarle's score of 0.07 indicating that Innospec is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Innospec	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Albemarle	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, IOSP or ALB?

Innospec has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Albemarle. Albemarle is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Innospec, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Innospec	$1.85B	1.19	$139.10M	$1.42	61.43
Albemarle	$5.38B	1.18	-$1.18B	-$11.20	-4.82

Which has more risk & volatility, IOSP or ALB?

Innospec has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albemarle has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in IOSP or ALB?

Albemarle received 443 more outperform votes than Innospec when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.94% of users gave Innospec an outperform vote while only 62.04% of users gave Albemarle an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Innospec	Outperform Votes 335 65.94%	Underperform Votes 173 34.06%
Albemarle	Outperform Votes 778 62.04%	Underperform Votes 476 37.96%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of IOSP or ALB?

96.6% of Innospec shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Albemarle shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Innospec shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Albemarle shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is IOSP or ALB a better dividend stock?

Innospec pays an annual dividend of $1.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Innospec pays out 111.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Albemarle pays out -14.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Albemarle has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years. Albemarle is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend IOSP or ALB?

Albemarle has a consensus price target of $96.05, suggesting a potential upside of 77.87%. Given Albemarle's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Albemarle is more favorable than Innospec.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Innospec	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Albemarle	2 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15

Summary

Innospec beats Albemarle on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.