Sensient Technologies (SXT) Competitors

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

Is ALB or SXT a better dividend stock?

Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Sensient Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Albemarle pays out -14.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sensient Technologies pays out 55.8% 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. 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.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, ALB or SXT?

Sensient Technologies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Albemarle. Albemarle is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sensient Technologies, 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	$5.38B	1.18	-$1.18B	-$11.20	-4.82
Sensient Technologies	$1.56B	2.03	$124.67M	$2.94	25.40

Do analysts rate ALB or SXT?

Albemarle currently has a consensus price target of $96.05, suggesting a potential upside of 77.87%. Sensient Technologies has a consensus price target of $85.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.82%. Given Albemarle's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Albemarle is more favorable than Sensient Technologies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Albemarle	2 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15
Sensient Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do insiders & institutionals believe in ALB or SXT?

92.9% of Albemarle shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.9% of Sensient Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Albemarle shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Sensient Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, ALB or SXT?

Albemarle has a beta of 1.59, suggesting that its stock price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sensient Technologies has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ALB or SXT?

Albemarle received 478 more outperform votes than Sensient Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.50% of users gave Sensient Technologies an outperform vote while only 62.04% of users gave Albemarle an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Albemarle	Outperform Votes 778 62.04%	Underperform Votes 476 37.96%
Sensient Technologies	Outperform Votes 300 62.50%	Underperform Votes 180 37.50%

Is ALB or SXT more profitable?

Sensient Technologies has a net margin of 8.01% compared to Albemarle's net margin of -21.93%. Sensient Technologies' return on equity of 11.93% beat Albemarle's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Albemarle	-21.93%	-1.72%	-0.84%
Sensient Technologies	8.01%	11.93%	6.30%

Does the media favor ALB or SXT?

In the previous week, Albemarle had 5 more articles in the media than Sensient Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Albemarle and 7 mentions for Sensient Technologies. Sensient Technologies' average media sentiment score of 0.57 beat Albemarle's score of 0.13 indicating that Sensient Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

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

Summary

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