Southern Copper (SCCO) Competitors

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) and Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, community ranking, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of FCX or SCCO?

80.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.9% of Southern Copper shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Southern Copper shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, FCX or SCCO?

Freeport-McMoRan has a beta of 1.91, meaning that its stock price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern Copper has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor FCX or SCCO?

In the previous week, Freeport-McMoRan had 14 more articles in the media than Southern Copper. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Freeport-McMoRan and 7 mentions for Southern Copper. Freeport-McMoRan's average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat Southern Copper's score of 1.36 indicating that Freeport-McMoRan is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Freeport-McMoRan	19 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Southern Copper	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is FCX or SCCO a better dividend stock?

Freeport-McMoRan pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Southern Copper pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Freeport-McMoRan pays out 21.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern Copper pays out 72.1% 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 MarketBeat Community prefer FCX or SCCO?

Freeport-McMoRan received 723 more outperform votes than Southern Copper when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.27% of users gave Freeport-McMoRan an outperform vote while only 55.90% of users gave Southern Copper an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Freeport-McMoRan	Outperform Votes 1116 66.27%	Underperform Votes 568 33.73%
Southern Copper	Outperform Votes 393 55.90%	Underperform Votes 310 44.10%

Which has better valuation and earnings, FCX or SCCO?

Southern Copper has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Freeport-McMoRan. Southern Copper is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Freeport-McMoRan, 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
Freeport-McMoRan	$22.86B	2.75	$1.85B	$1.37	31.90
Southern Copper	$9.90B	8.17	$2.43B	$3.88	26.51

Is FCX or SCCO more profitable?

Southern Copper has a net margin of 27.67% compared to Freeport-McMoRan's net margin of 7.81%. Southern Copper's return on equity of 37.11% beat Freeport-McMoRan's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freeport-McMoRan	7.81%	7.40%	3.86%
Southern Copper	27.67%	37.11%	17.38%

Do analysts rate FCX or SCCO?

Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus target price of $54.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.57%. Southern Copper has a consensus target price of $90.63, indicating a potential downside of 11.99%. Given Freeport-McMoRan's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Freeport-McMoRan is more favorable than Southern Copper.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freeport-McMoRan	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
Southern Copper	6 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.56

Summary

Freeport-McMoRan beats Southern Copper on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.