Head to Head Comparison: Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) and Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD)

Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) and Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Eldorado Gold and Steel Dynamics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eldorado Gold	$2.09 billion	4.07	$507.26 million	$3.00	10.87
Steel Dynamics	$18.18 billion	1.99	$1.19 billion	$13.55	18.75

Steel Dynamics has higher revenue and earnings than Eldorado Gold. Eldorado Gold is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Steel Dynamics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Eldorado Gold and Steel Dynamics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eldorado Gold	1	6	6	2	2.60
Steel Dynamics	0	4	9	0	2.69

Eldorado Gold currently has a consensus price target of $46.57, suggesting a potential upside of 42.79%. Steel Dynamics has a consensus price target of $275.17, suggesting a potential upside of 8.33%. Given Eldorado Gold’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Eldorado Gold is more favorable than Steel Dynamics.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

69.6% of Eldorado Gold shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.4% of Steel Dynamics shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Eldorado Gold shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Steel Dynamics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Eldorado Gold and Steel Dynamics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eldorado Gold	31.67%	10.31%	6.74%
Steel Dynamics	8.82%	21.57%	11.61%

Dividends

Eldorado Gold pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Steel Dynamics pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Eldorado Gold pays out 10.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Steel Dynamics pays out 15.6% 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. Steel Dynamics has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Eldorado Gold is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility & Risk

Eldorado Gold has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Steel Dynamics has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Steel Dynamics beats Eldorado Gold on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eldorado Gold

Eldorado Gold Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mining, exploration, development, and sale of mineral products primarily in Turkey, Canada, Greece, and Romania. The company primarily produces gold, as well as silver, lead, and zinc. It holds a 100% interest in the Kisladag and Efemçukuru mines located in Turkey; Lamaque complex located in Canada; and Olympias, Stratoni, Skouries, Perama Hill, and Sapes gold mines located in Greece, as well as the 80.5% interest in Certej development projects located in Romania. The company was formerly known as Eldorado Corporation Ltd. and changed its name to Eldorado Gold Corporation in April 1996. Eldorado Gold Corporation was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Steel Dynamics

Steel Dynamics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer and metal recycler in the United States. The Steel Operations segment offers hot rolled, cold rolled, and coated steel products; parallel flange beams and channel sections, flat bars, large unequal leg angles, and reinforcing steel bars, as well as standard strength carbon, intermediate alloy hardness, and premium grade rail products; engineered special-bar-quality products, merchant-bar-quality products, and other engineered round steel bars; channels, angles, flats, merchant rounds, and reinforcing steel bars; and specialty shapes and light structural steel products. This segment also engages in turning, polishing, straightening, chamfering, precision saw-cutting, and heat treating of bar products. Its products are used in construction, automotive, manufacturing, transportation, heavy and agriculture equipment, and pipe and tube markets. The Metals Recycling Operations segment is involved in the ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal processing, transportation, marketing, brokerage, and scrap management services. Its ferrous products include heavy melting steel, busheling, bundled scrap, shredded scrap, steel turnings, and cast-iron products; and nonferrous products comprise aluminum, brass, copper, stainless steel, and other nonferrous metals. The Steel Fabrication Operations segment produces steel non-residential building components, such as steel joists, girders, trusses, and steel deck products for non-residential steel fabricators, metal building companies, general construction contractors, developers, owners, brokers, and governmental entities, as well as e-commerce warehouses, data centers, metal buildings, and education and commercial building projects. The Aluminum Operations segment offers recycled aluminum flat rolled products. The company also exports its products. Steel Dynamics, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.