Analyzing Halma (OTCMKTS:HLMAF) and 5N Plus (OTCMKTS:FPLSF)

5N Plus (OTCMKTS:FPLSF) and Halma (OTCMKTS:HLMAF) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for 5N Plus and Halma, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
5N Plus	0	0	0	0	N/A
Halma	0	0	0	0	N/A

Volatility & Risk

5N Plus has a beta of 1.89, meaning that its share price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Halma has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.1% of 5N Plus shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of 5N Plus shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares 5N Plus and Halma”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
5N Plus	$242.37 million	1.98	$15.40 million	$0.13	41.54
Halma	$2.56 billion	4.79	$337.88 million	N/A	N/A

Halma has higher revenue and earnings than 5N Plus.

Profitability

This table compares 5N Plus and Halma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
5N Plus	4.15%	9.61%	3.51%
Halma	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

5N Plus beats Halma on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About 5N Plus

5N Plus Inc. produces and sells specialty metals and chemicals in North America, Europe, and Asia. It operates through two segments, Specialty Semiconductors and Performance Materials. The company offers semiconductor compounds, semiconductor wafers, metals, epitaxial semiconductor substrates, and solar cells. It also provides active pharmaceutical ingredients, animal feed additives, specialized chemicals, commercial grade metals, alloys, engineered powders, and recycling services. The company serves renewable energy, security, space, pharmaceutical, medical imaging, manufacturing, electronic, consumer, and industrial application markets. 5N Plus Inc. is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

About Halma

Halma plc, together its subsidiaries, provides technology solutions in the safety, health, and environmental markets in the United States, Mainland Europe, the United Kingdom, the Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Safety, Environmental & Analysis, and Medical. The Safety segment provides fire safety, fire detection and fire suppression; safe movement in public, commercial, and industrial spaces; elevator safety; communications in emergencies; control of access in potentially hazardous industrial and commercial environments; electrical safety; and the safe management of pipelines and storage assets solutions. This segment serves shops and restaurants, healthcare facilities, and offices and stadiums; industrial and logistics assets; public spaces and critical infrastructure; and aerospace, and rail and automotive markets. The Environmental & Analysis segment offers optical, optoelectronic, and spectral imaging systems; environmental monitoring, water and waste water analysis and treatment, gas analysis and detection, and optical analysis systems. It serves the optical analysis, water analysis and treatment, gas detection, and environmental monitoring markets. The Medical segment provides critical fluidic components used by medical diagnostics and original equipment manufacturers; components, devices and systems that provide information and analytics to understand patient health and enable providers to make decisions across the continuum of care; technologies and solutions to enable in-vitro diagnostic systems and life-science discoveries and development; and technologies that enable treatment across clinical specialties. This segment serves the life sciences, health assessment and analytics, and therapeutic solutions market. The company was incorporated in 1894 and is headquartered in Amersham, the United Kingdom.