Contrasting Covestro (OTC:COVTY) and Seiko Epson (OTCMKTS:SEKEY)

Covestro (OTC:COVTY) and Seiko Epson (OTCMKTS:SEKEY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Covestro and Seiko Epson”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Covestro	$15.56 billion	0.74	-$214.29 million	($0.74)	-41.19
Seiko Epson	$8.68 billion	0.70	$347.68 million	$0.57	13.88

Seiko Epson has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Covestro. Covestro is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seiko Epson, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Covestro and Seiko Epson, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Covestro	0	2	0	0	2.00
Seiko Epson	0	0	0	0	0.00

Profitability

This table compares Covestro and Seiko Epson’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Covestro	-1.84%	-3.91%	-1.89%
Seiko Epson	4.24%	6.61%	3.80%

Volatility and Risk

Covestro has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seiko Epson has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Seiko Epson beats Covestro on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Covestro

Covestro AG supplies high-tech polymer materials and application solutions. It operates in two segments, Performance Materials, and Solutions & Specialties. The Performance Materials segment develops, produces, and supplies high-performance materials, such as polyurethanes and polycarbonates, and base chemicals, which include diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), toluylene diisocyanate, long-chain polyols, and polycarbonate resins for use in furniture and wood processing, construction, automotive, and transportation industries, as well as roof structures, insulation for buildings and refrigerators, mattresses, car seats, and other applications. The Solutions & Specialties segment comprises a range of polymer products, including polycarbonates, precursors for coatings and adhesives, MDI specialties and polyols, thermoplastic polyurethanes, specialty films, and elastomers that are used in automotive and transportation, electrical, electronics and household appliances, construction, and healthcare industries, as well as composite resins for solar panel frames, laptops, floodlights, and electric vehicle batteries. The company markets its products through trading houses and distributors. It operates in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, the United States, Canada, and the People’s Republic of China. The company was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany.

About Seiko Epson

Seiko Epson Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and provides services for products in the printing solutions, visual communications, manufacturing-related and wearables, and other businesses. It operates through three segments: Printing Solutions, Visual Communications, and Manufacturing-related and Wearables segments. The Printing Solutions segment offers home and office inkjet printers, serial impact dot matrix printers, page printers, color image scanners, dry process office papermaking systems, commercial and industrial inkjet printers, inkjet printheads, printers for use in POS systems, label printers, printer consumables, and others. The Visual Communications segment provides 3LCD projectors for business, education, the home, and event; smart glasses; and others. The Manufacturing-related and Wearables segment offers wristwatches, watch movements, and others; factory automation products, industrial robots, compact injection molders, and other production systems; and crystal units, crystal oscillators, quartz sensors, and others for consumer, automotive, and industrial equipment applications. This segment also provides CMOS LSIs and other chips primarily for consumer electronics and automotive applications; and metal powders for use as raw materials in the production of electronic components, etc., as well as value-added surface finishing in a range of industrial fields. The company also sells PCs, etc. It has operations in Japan, the Philippines, the United States, Indonesia, China, and internationally. Seiko Epson Corporation was incorporated in 1942 and is headquartered in Suwa, Japan.