United States Lime & Minerals (USLM) Competitors

United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) and Cemex (NYSE:CX) are both construction companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Is USLM or CX a better dividend stock?

United States Lime & Minerals pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Cemex pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. United States Lime & Minerals pays out 5.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cemex pays out 8.3% 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. United States Lime & Minerals has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Is USLM or CX more profitable?

United States Lime & Minerals has a net margin of 35.74% compared to Cemex's net margin of 8.84%. United States Lime & Minerals' return on equity of 24.79% beat Cemex's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United States Lime & Minerals	35.74%	24.79%	22.59%
Cemex	8.84%	6.47%	2.92%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in USLM or CX?

27.1% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Cemex shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Cemex shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, USLM or CX?

Cemex has higher revenue and earnings than United States Lime & Minerals. Cemex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United States Lime & Minerals, 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
United States Lime & Minerals	$317.72M	9.08	$108.84M	$4.20	23.98
Cemex	$15.91B	0.67	$939M	$0.96	7.65

Does the media refer more to USLM or CX?

In the previous week, Cemex had 1 more articles in the media than United States Lime & Minerals. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Cemex and 3 mentions for United States Lime & Minerals. United States Lime & Minerals' average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Cemex's score of 0.24 indicating that United States Lime & Minerals is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
United States Lime & Minerals	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cemex	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts rate USLM or CX?

Cemex has a consensus price target of $7.74, suggesting a potential upside of 5.40%. Given Cemex's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cemex is more favorable than United States Lime & Minerals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United States Lime & Minerals	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Cemex	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has more risk and volatility, USLM or CX?

United States Lime & Minerals has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cemex has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United States Lime & Minerals beats Cemex on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.