Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer NX or KALU?

Quanex Building Products presently has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.26%. Kaiser Aluminum has a consensus target price of $77.00, indicating a potential downside of 20.93%. Given Kaiser Aluminum's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research 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

Which has more volatility and risk, NX or KALU?

Quanex Building Products has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kaiser Aluminum has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to NX or KALU?

In the previous week, Kaiser Aluminum had 2 more articles in the media than Quanex Building Products. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Kaiser Aluminum and 2 mentions for Quanex Building Products. Kaiser Aluminum's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Quanex Building Products' score of 1.11 indicating that Quanex Building Products is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Quanex Building Products	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kaiser Aluminum	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings & valuation, 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	1.02	$82.50M	$2.63	13.22
Kaiser Aluminum	$3.02B	0.52	$47.20M	$3.44	28.50

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in NX or KALU?

97.5% of Quanex Building Products shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of Kaiser Aluminum shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Quanex Building Products shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Kaiser Aluminum shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

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%

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 3.1%. 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 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.