Northern Technologies International (NTIC) Competitors

Northern Technologies International (NASDAQ:NTIC) and AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation and risk.

Which has more volatility and risk, NTIC or AZZ?

Northern Technologies International has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AZZ has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is NTIC or AZZ a better dividend stock?

Northern Technologies International pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. AZZ pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Northern Technologies International pays out 53.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AZZ pays out 19.8% 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.

Does the media favor NTIC or AZZ?

In the previous week, Northern Technologies International had 1 more articles in the media than AZZ. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Northern Technologies International and 5 mentions for AZZ. Northern Technologies International's average media sentiment score of 0.94 beat AZZ's score of 0.77 indicating that Northern Technologies International is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northern Technologies International	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AZZ	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher earnings and valuation, NTIC or AZZ?

AZZ has higher revenue and earnings than Northern Technologies International. AZZ is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northern Technologies International, 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
Northern Technologies International	$79.90M	2.17	$2.91M	$0.52	35.42
AZZ	$1.54B	1.62	$101.61M	$3.43	24.45

Is NTIC or AZZ more profitable?

AZZ has a net margin of 6.61% compared to Northern Technologies International's net margin of 6.12%. AZZ's return on equity of 15.66% beat Northern Technologies International's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northern Technologies International	6.12%	6.68%	5.37%
AZZ	6.61%	15.66%	6.02%

Do analysts prefer NTIC or AZZ?

Northern Technologies International presently has a consensus price target of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.58%. AZZ has a consensus price target of $88.33, suggesting a potential upside of 5.31%. Given Northern Technologies International's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Northern Technologies International is more favorable than AZZ.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northern Technologies International	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
AZZ	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of NTIC or AZZ?

32.9% of Northern Technologies International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.9% of AZZ shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.1% of Northern Technologies International shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of AZZ shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NTIC or AZZ?

AZZ received 118 more outperform votes than Northern Technologies International when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 55.14% of users gave AZZ an outperform vote while only 51.60% of users gave Northern Technologies International an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Northern Technologies International	Outperform Votes 177 51.60%	Underperform Votes 166 48.40%
AZZ	Outperform Votes 295 55.14%	Underperform Votes 240 44.86%

Summary

AZZ beats Northern Technologies International on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.