Reviewing Nucor (NYSE:NUE) & Applied Minerals (OTCMKTS:AMNL)

Applied Minerals (OTCMKTS:AMNL) and Nucor (NYSE:NUE) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Applied Minerals and Nucor”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Applied Minerals	$1.41 million	0.00	-$3.28 million	($0.01)	N/A
Nucor	$32.49 billion	1.73	$1.74 billion	$12.54	19.76

Nucor has higher revenue and earnings than Applied Minerals. Applied Minerals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nucor, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

27.0% of Applied Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.5% of Nucor shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.7% of Applied Minerals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Nucor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Applied Minerals has a beta of -0.34, meaning that its stock price is 134% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nucor has a beta of 1.89, meaning that its stock price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Applied Minerals and Nucor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Applied Minerals	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nucor	7.99%	12.73%	8.03%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Applied Minerals and Nucor, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Applied Minerals	0	0	0	0	0.00
Nucor	0	4	12	0	2.75

Nucor has a consensus price target of $272.38, indicating a potential upside of 9.93%. Given Nucor’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Nucor is more favorable than Applied Minerals.

Summary

Nucor beats Applied Minerals on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Applied Minerals

Applied Minerals, Inc. extracts, processes, and markets halloysite clay and iron oxide. The company owns the Dragon mine property that consists of 38 patented and 6 unpatented mining claims covering an area of 267 acres located in Juab County, Utah. It provides halloysite clay-based line of products for use in various applications, such as molecular sieves and catalysts, flame retardant additives for plastics, binders for ceramics, nucleation and reinforcement of polymers, paints and coatings, batteries, agriculture, environmental remediation, controlled release carriers cosmetics, and others under the tradename DRAGONITE. The company also offers natural iron oxide-based products for the pigmentary and technical application markets under the trade name AMIRON. It markets and sells its products directly, as well as through employees, agents, and distributors. The company was formerly known as Atlas Mining Company and changed its name to Applied Minerals, Inc. in October 2009. Applied Minerals, Inc. was incorporated in 1924 is based in Eureka, Utah.

About Nucor

Nucor Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. It operates in three segments: steel mills, steel products, and raw materials. The Steel Mills segment produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet steel products; plate steel products; wide-flange beams, beam blanks, and H-piling and sheet piling structural steel products; bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and engineered special bar quality products; and engages in the steel trading and rebar distribution businesses. This segment sells its products to steel service centers, fabricators, and manufacturers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Steel Products segment offers steel joists and joist girders, steel decks, and galvanized torque tubes for used in solar arrays, hollow structural section steel tubing, electrical conduit, fabricated concrete reinforcing steel, cold finished steel, steel fasteners, steel grating and expanded metal, wire and wire mesh, metal building systems, insulated metal panels, steel racking, overhead doors, and utility towers and structures for communications and energy transmission. This segment is also involved in the piling distribution business. The Raw Materials segment produces direct reduced iron (DRI); brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, hot briquetted iron, and DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal; and engages in the natural gas production and industrial gas business. This segment sells its ferrous scrap to electric arc furnace steel mills and foundries for manufacturing process; and nonferrous scrap metal to aluminum can producers, secondary aluminum smelters, steel mills and other processors, and consumers of various nonferrous metals. It markets its products through in-house sales force; and internal distribution and trading companies. Nucor Corporation was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.