As Steel & Iron companies, Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX) and Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE:RS) are our subject to compare. And more specifically their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ternium S.A.	11.45B	0.47	1.51B	7.68	3.78
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.	11.53B	0.50	633.70M	8.76	10.23

In table 1 we can see Ternium S.A. and Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. is observed to has higher revenue and earnings than Ternium S.A. The business that is currently more affordable of the two stocks is the one that has a lower price-to-earnings ratio. Ternium S.A.’s currently lower price-to-earnings ratio means it is more affordable than Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.

Profitability

Table 2 provides us Ternium S.A. and Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.’s return on equity, net margins and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ternium S.A.	13.19%	26.3%	12.2%
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.	5.50%	13.1%	7.7%

Risk and Volatility

Ternium S.A. has a beta of 0.87 and its 13.00% less volatile than S&P 500. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.’s 27.00% more volatile than S&P 500 which is a result of the 1.27 beta.

Liquidity

2.4 and 0.9 are the respective Current Ratio and a Quick Ratio of Ternium S.A. Its rival Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.’s Current and Quick Ratios are 4.7 and 2.1 respectively. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. has a better chance of clearing its pay short and long-term debts than Ternium S.A.

Dividends

Ternium S.A. pays out an annual dividend of $1.2 per share while its dividend yield is 4.28%. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. also pays out annual dividends at $2 per share and at a 2.29% dividend yield.

Analyst Ratings

In next table is shown Ternium S.A. and Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.’s ratings and recommendations.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ternium S.A.	0	1	0	2.00
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.	0	4	2	2.33

Ternium S.A.’s average target price is $23, while its potential downside is -16.76%. On the other hand, Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.’s potential upside is 3.48% and its average target price is $89.25. The data from earlier shows that analysts opinion suggest that Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. seems more appealing than Ternium S.A.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

The shares of both Ternium S.A. and Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. are owned by institutional investors at 19.7% and 81.1% respectively. Insiders owned 0.1% of Ternium S.A. shares. Comparatively, 0.7% are Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.’s share owned by insiders.

Performance

Here are the Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half Yearly, Yearly and YTD Performance of both pretenders.

	Performance (W)	Performance (M)	Performance (Q)	Performance (HY)	Performance (Y)	Performance (YTD)
Ternium S.A.	-6.35%	-4.57%	3.27%	-2.26%	-16.27%	7.12%
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.	-1.16%	9.44%	12.11%	0.64%	-4.28%	25.91%

For the past year Ternium S.A.’s stock price has smaller growth than Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.

Summary

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. beats Ternium S.A. on 13 of the 17 factors.

Ternium S.A. manufactures and processes various steel products in Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, the United States, Central America, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Steel and Mining. The Steel segment offers steel products, such as slabs, billets and round bars, hot-rolled coils and sheets, bars and stirrups, wire rods, cold-rolled coils and sheets, tin plates, hot dipped galvanized and electrogalvanized sheets, pre-painted sheets, steel pipes and tubular products, beams, roll formed products, and other products. The Mining segment sells iron ore concentrates and pellets. The company serves various companies and small businesses operating in construction, automotive, home appliances, capital goods, container, food, and energy industries. Ternium S.A. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ternium S.A. is a subsidiary of Techint Holdings S.à r.l.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. operates as a metals service center company. The company provides metals processing services and distributes a line of approximately 100,000 metal products, including alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, and specialty steel products. Its primary processing services comprise cutting, leveling, sawing, machining, and electro polishing. The company also fabricates and distributes structural steel components and parts; offers inventory management services; distributes alloy, carbon, and stainless steel bar and plate products; steel and non-ferrous metal products; and aerospace metals, including aluminum, steel, titanium, nickel alloys, and aluminum bronze, offering full or cut to size materials. It serves general manufacturing, non-residential construction, transportation, aerospace and defense, energy, electronics and semiconductor fabrication, and heavy and auto industries. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers, small machine shops, and fabricators. It operates through a network of metals service centers in approximately 300 locations in 39 states in the United States, as well as in Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.