United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) versus Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. (NYSE:CPAC) Critical Review

United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) and Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. (NYSE:CPAC) are both construction companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for United States Lime & Minerals and Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A., as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United States Lime & Minerals	0	0	0	0	0.00
Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.	1	1	0	0	1.50

Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. has a consensus target price of $6.20, indicating a potential downside of 1.82%. Given Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. is more favorable than United States Lime & Minerals.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.1% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares United States Lime & Minerals and Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United States Lime & Minerals	35.57%	24.24%	22.20%
Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.	10.51%	16.60%	6.62%

Volatility & Risk

United States Lime & Minerals has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares United States Lime & Minerals and Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United States Lime & Minerals	$317.72 million	10.69	$108.84 million	$4.36	27.19
Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.	$527.09 million	1.02	$53.00 million	$0.62	10.19

United States Lime & Minerals has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.. Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United States Lime & Minerals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

United States Lime & Minerals pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.9%. United States Lime & Minerals pays out 5.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. pays out 80.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. United States Lime & Minerals has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Summary

United States Lime & Minerals beats Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United States Lime & Minerals

United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of lime and limestone products. Its products include High Calcium Quicklime, Hydrated Lime, Lime Kiln Dust, Lime Slurry, and High Calcium Limestone. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.

Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A., a cement company, produces, distributes, and sells cement and cement-related materials in Peru. It operates through three segments: Cement, Concrete, Mortar and Precast; Quicklime; and Sales of Construction Supplies. The company’s cement and concrete products are used in residential and commercial construction, and civil engineering; ready-mix concrete used in construction sites; concrete precast, such as paving units or paver stones for pedestrian walkways, as well as other bricks for partition walls and concrete precast for structural and non-structural uses; and cement-based products. It also produces and distributes quicklime for use in steel, food, fishing, and chemical industries. In addition, the company sells and distributes other construction materials manufactured by third parties, such as steel rebar, plastic pipes, and electrical wires. It offers its products directly to other retailers, private construction companies, and government entities through a network of independent retailers and hardware stores. The company was incorporated in 1949 and is headquartered in Lima, Peru. Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. is a subsidiary of Inversiones ASPI S.A.