Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) Competitors

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) and Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) are both small-cap construction companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, community ranking and risk.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of NX or KALU?

97.5% of Quanex Building Products shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of Kaiser Aluminum shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Quanex Building Products shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Kaiser Aluminum 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.

Which has better valuation and earnings, NX or KALU?

Quanex Building Products has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Kaiser Aluminum. Quanex Building Products is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kaiser Aluminum, 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
Quanex Building Products	$1.13B	0.99	$82.50M	$2.63	12.86
Kaiser Aluminum	$3.09B	0.49	$47.20M	$3.44	27.59

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NX or KALU?

Quanex Building Products received 45 more outperform votes than Kaiser Aluminum when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.47% of users gave Quanex Building Products an outperform vote while only 57.29% of users gave Kaiser Aluminum an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Quanex Building Products	Outperform Votes 328 65.47%	Underperform Votes 173 34.53%
Kaiser Aluminum	Outperform Votes 283 57.29%	Underperform Votes 211 42.71%

Does the media prefer NX or KALU?

In the previous week, Quanex Building Products had 13 more articles in the media than Kaiser Aluminum. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Quanex Building Products and 15 mentions for Kaiser Aluminum. Quanex Building Products' average media sentiment score of 0.60 beat Kaiser Aluminum's score of 0.43 indicating that Kaiser Aluminum is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Quanex Building Products	4 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Kaiser Aluminum	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, NX or KALU?

Quanex Building Products has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kaiser Aluminum has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate NX or KALU?

Quanex Building Products currently has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.39%. Kaiser Aluminum has a consensus target price of $77.00, indicating a potential downside of 18.88%. Given Kaiser Aluminum's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Quanex Building Products is more favorable than Kaiser Aluminum.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Quanex Building Products	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Kaiser Aluminum	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Is NX or KALU a better dividend stock?

Quanex Building Products pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Kaiser Aluminum pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Quanex Building Products pays out 12.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kaiser Aluminum pays out 89.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Is NX or KALU more profitable?

Quanex Building Products has a net margin of 7.84% compared to Quanex Building Products' net margin of 1.85%. Kaiser Aluminum's return on equity of 17.11% beat Quanex Building Products' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Quanex Building Products	7.84%	17.11%	10.94%
Kaiser Aluminum	1.85%	8.40%	2.39%

Summary

Quanex Building Products beats Kaiser Aluminum on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.