Head to Head Review: Myers Industries (NYSE:MYE) and Hexagon Composites ASA (OTCMKTS:HXGCF)

Myers Industries (NYSE:MYE) and Hexagon Composites ASA (OTCMKTS:HXGCF) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Myers Industries and Hexagon Composites ASA, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Myers Industries	0	1	2	0	2.67
Hexagon Composites ASA	0	0	1	0	3.00

Myers Industries presently has a consensus price target of $37.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.81%. Given Myers Industries’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Myers Industries is more favorable than Hexagon Composites ASA.

Profitability

This table compares Myers Industries and Hexagon Composites ASA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Myers Industries	4.86%	19.86%	6.88%
Hexagon Composites ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.8% of Myers Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.8% of Hexagon Composites ASA shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Myers Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Myers Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Hexagon Composites ASA pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.9%. Myers Industries pays out 55.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hexagon Composites ASA pays out 25.3% 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. Hexagon Composites ASA is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Myers Industries and Hexagon Composites ASA”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Myers Industries	$825.74 million	1.46	$34.93 million	$0.97	32.94
Hexagon Composites ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.98	1.34

Myers Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Hexagon Composites ASA. Hexagon Composites ASA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Myers Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Myers Industries beats Hexagon Composites ASA on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Myers Industries

Myers Industries, Inc. engages in distribution of tire service supplies in Ohio. It operates through two segments, The Material Handling and Distribution. The Material Handling segment offers pallets, small parts bins, bulk shipping containers, and OEM parts, as well as storage and organization, and custom plastic products; and injection molded, rotationally molded or blow molded products, consumer fuel containers and tanks for water, fuel, and waste handling. It serves industrial manufacturing, food processing, retail/wholesale products distribution, agriculture, automotive, recreational and marine vehicles, healthcare, appliance, bakery, electronics, textiles, consumer markets, and other markets under Akro-Mils, Jamco, Buckhorn, Ameri-Kart, Scepter, Elkhart Plastics, Trilogy Plastics, and Signature Systems brands directly to end-users, as well as through distributors. The Distribution segment engages in the distribution of tools, equipment, and supplies for tire, wheel, and under-vehicle service on passenger, heavy truck, and off-road vehicles; and manufacture and sale of tire repair materials and custom rubber products, as well as reflective highway marking tapes under the Myers Tire Supply, Myers Tire Supply International, Tuffy Manufacturing, Mohawk Rubber Sales, Patch Rubber Company, Elrick, Fleetline, MTS, Seymoure, Advance Traffic Markings, and MXP brands. This segment serves retail and truck tire dealers, commercial auto and truck fleets, auto dealers, general service and repair centers, tire re-treaders, truck stop operations, and government agencies. Myers Industries, Inc. was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Akron, Ohio.

About Hexagon Composites ASA

Hexagon Composites ASA, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of composite pressure cylinders and fuel systems for alternative fuels worldwide. The company operates through Hexagon Agility, Hexagon Ragasco, and Hexagon Digital Wave segments. The Hexagon Agility segment provides clean fuel solutions for commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, and gaseous energy transportation; and gas distribution solutions. The Hexagon Ragasco segment manufacturers composite liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders for leisure, household, and industrial applications. The Hexagon Digital Wave segment offers cylinder testing and monitoring technology solutions that reduce cylinder and system down-time and inspection costs while improving inspection accuracy. Hexagon Composites ASA was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Ålesund, Norway.