Head to Head Comparison: Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) & Johnson Matthey (OTCMKTS:JMPLY)

Johnson Matthey (OTCMKTS:JMPLY) and Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Johnson Matthey and Eastman Chemical, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Johnson Matthey	0	3	0	1	2.50
Eastman Chemical	0	6	8	0	2.57

Eastman Chemical has a consensus target price of $78.62, indicating a potential upside of 27.84%. Given Eastman Chemical’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Eastman Chemical is more favorable than Johnson Matthey.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Johnson Matthey and Eastman Chemical”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Johnson Matthey	$14.89 billion	0.30	$475.91 million	N/A	N/A
Eastman Chemical	$9.38 billion	0.75	$905.00 million	$5.99	10.27

Eastman Chemical has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Johnson Matthey.

Volatility & Risk

Johnson Matthey has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eastman Chemical has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Johnson Matthey pays an annual dividend of $1.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Eastman Chemical pays an annual dividend of $3.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Eastman Chemical pays out 55.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Eastman Chemical has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Eastman Chemical is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.7% of Eastman Chemical shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of Eastman Chemical shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Johnson Matthey and Eastman Chemical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Johnson Matthey	N/A	N/A	N/A
Eastman Chemical	7.75%	12.89%	5.03%

Summary

Eastman Chemical beats Johnson Matthey on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Johnson Matthey

Johnson Matthey is a global leader in science that enables a cleaner and healthier world. With over 200 years of sustained commitment to innovation and technological breakthroughs, they improve the function, performance and safety of their customers’ products. Their science has a global impact in areas such as low emission transport, pharmaceuticals, chemical processing and making the most efficient use of the planet’s natural resources. Today more than 13,000 Johnson Matthey professionals collaborate with their network of customers and partners to make a real difference to the world around us.

About Eastman Chemical

Eastman Chemical Company operates as a specialty materials company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Additives & Functional Products segment offers amine derivative-based building blocks, intermediates for surfactants, metam-based soil fumigants, and organic acid-based solutions; specialty coalescent and solvents, paint additives, and specialty polymers; and heat transfer and aviation fluids. It serves transportation, personal care, wellness, food, feed, agriculture, building and construction, water treatment, energy, consumables, durables, and electronics markets. Its Advanced Materials segment provides copolyesters, cellulosic biopolymers, cellulose esters, polyvinyl butyral sheets, and window and protective films for value-added end uses in the transportation, durables, electronics, building and construction, medical and pharma, and consumables markets. The company's Chemical Intermediates segment offers olefin and acetyl derivatives, ethylene, and commodity solvents; and primary non-phthalate and phthalate plasticizers, and niche non-phthalate plasticizers for industrial chemicals and processing, building and construction, health and wellness, and food and feed. Its Fibers segment provides cellulose acetate tow, triacetin, cellulose acetate flake, acetic acid, and acetic anhydride for use in filtration media primarily cigarette filters; natural and solution dyed acetate yarns, and staple fiber for use in consumables, and health and wellness markets; and wet-laid nonwoven media, specialty and engineered papers, and cellulose acetate fibers for transportation, industrial, agriculture and mining, and aerospace markets. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee.