H.B. Fuller (FUL) Competitors

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) and H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Is ALB or FUL a better dividend stock?

Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. H.B. Fuller pays an annual dividend of $0.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Albemarle pays out -9.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. H.B. Fuller pays out 27.5% 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. Albemarle has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and H.B. Fuller has raised its dividend for 56 consecutive years. Albemarle is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ALB or FUL?

Albemarle received 458 more outperform votes than H.B. Fuller when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.88% of users gave Albemarle an outperform vote while only 56.03% of users gave H.B. Fuller an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Albemarle	Outperform Votes 774 62.88%	Underperform Votes 457 37.12%
H.B. Fuller	Outperform Votes 316 56.03%	Underperform Votes 248 43.97%

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, ALB or FUL?

Albemarle has higher revenue and earnings than H.B. Fuller. Albemarle is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than H.B. Fuller, 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
Albemarle	$9.62B	1.25	$1.57B	-$16.75	-6.09
H.B. Fuller	$3.51B	1.18	$144.91M	$3.24	23.37

Is ALB or FUL more profitable?

H.B. Fuller has a net margin of 5.15% compared to Albemarle's net margin of -28.80%. H.B. Fuller's return on equity of 13.39% beat Albemarle's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Albemarle	-28.80%	1.67%	0.84%
H.B. Fuller	5.15%	13.39%	4.97%

Which has more risk and volatility, ALB or FUL?

Albemarle has a beta of 1.55, meaning that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, H.B. Fuller has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer ALB or FUL?

In the previous week, Albemarle had 12 more articles in the media than H.B. Fuller. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Albemarle and 1 mentions for H.B. Fuller. H.B. Fuller's average media sentiment score of 0.88 beat Albemarle's score of -0.13 indicating that H.B. Fuller is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Albemarle	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
H.B. Fuller	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend ALB or FUL?

Albemarle presently has a consensus price target of $114.47, indicating a potential upside of 12.27%. H.B. Fuller has a consensus price target of $97.67, indicating a potential upside of 28.98%. Given H.B. Fuller's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe H.B. Fuller is more favorable than Albemarle.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Albemarle	1 Sell rating(s)	15 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.23
H.B. Fuller	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in ALB or FUL?

92.9% of Albemarle shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of H.B. Fuller shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Albemarle shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of H.B. Fuller shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

H.B. Fuller beats Albemarle on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.