Reviewing Sika (OTC:SKFOF) & Arcadium Lithium (NYSE:ALTM)

Sika (OTC:SKFOF) and Arcadium Lithium (NYSE:ALTM) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sika and Arcadium Lithium”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sika	N/A	N/A	N/A	C$149.66	1.76
Arcadium Lithium	$1.21 billion	5.21	$86.15 million	$0.08	73.06

Arcadium Lithium has higher revenue and earnings than Sika. Sika is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Arcadium Lithium, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

39.7% of Sika shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.0% of Arcadium Lithium shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Arcadium Lithium 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Sika and Arcadium Lithium, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sika	0	0	0	0	0.00
Arcadium Lithium	0	10	0	0	2.00

Arcadium Lithium has a consensus price target of $11.00, indicating a potential upside of 88.20%. Given Arcadium Lithium’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Arcadium Lithium is more favorable than Sika.

Profitability

This table compares Sika and Arcadium Lithium’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sika	N/A	N/A	N/A
Arcadium Lithium	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Sika pays an annual dividend of C$57.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 21.7%. Arcadium Lithium pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 102.7%. Sika pays out 38.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Arcadium Lithium pays out 7,500.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Arcadium Lithium beats Sika on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sika

Sika AG, a specialty chemicals company, develops, produces, and sells systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry worldwide. The company offers tile adhesives and grouts, systems for under-tile waterproofing, sound reduction, renders, and decorative finishes for exterior and interior walls, as well as exterior insulation finishing systems; admixtures and additives for concrete, cement, and mortar production; and flat roofing systems, including flexible sheets and liquid-applied membranes under the Sika Sarnafil brand, as well as vapor control layers, adhesives, insulation, fixation, roof drainages, leak monitoring and detection systems, and accessories. It also provides technologies for below and above-ground waterproofing, including flexible membrane systems, such as polymeric sheets, fully bonded membranes, and modified bitumen sheets; liquid-applied membranes; joint waterproofing systems, including waterstops, swelling profiles, and adhered tapes; and waterproofing mortars and injection resins for commercial and residential basements, tunnels, bridges, and various types of water-retaining structures, such as reservoirs, storage basins, and storage tanks. In addition, the company offers flooring solutions, such as synthetic resin and cementitious systems; and sealants, adhesives, tapes, and spray foams for the building facades, interior finishing, and infrastructure projects. Further, it provides repairing, reinforcing, and protective solutions for concrete structures, such as repair mortars, shrinking grouts, anchoring adhesives, protective coatings, corrosion control, and structural strengthening systems. The company serves automobile and commercial vehicle assembly, automotive aftermarket, marine vessel, industrial lamination, renewable energy, home appliance, and facade engineering industries. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland.

About Arcadium Lithium

Arcadium Lithium plc engages in the production of lithium chemicals products in the Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It offers battery-grade lithium hydroxide, lithium carbonate, butyllithium and high purity lithium metal for electric vehicles, electronics, agricultural, industrial, greases, polymers, pharmaceutical, battery, and aerospace applications. The company also owns interest in various properties located in Argentina, Canada, and Western Australia. Arcadium Lithium plc was founded in 1944 and is based in Shannon, Ireland.