Contrasting Venator Materials (NYSE:VNTRQ) and UBE (OTCMKTS:UBEOF)

Profitability

This table compares UBE and Venator Materials’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UBE	N/A	N/A	N/A
Venator Materials	-18.19%	-47.15%	-8.22%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares UBE and Venator Materials”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UBE	N/A	N/A	N/A	$5.67	3.08
Venator Materials	$2.17 billion	14.77	-$188.00 million	($3.28)	-91.46

UBE has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Venator Materials. Venator Materials is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than UBE, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

16.0% of UBE shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.5% of Venator Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. 41.7% of Venator Materials shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

UBE beats Venator Materials on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UBE

UBE Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the chemicals, construction materials, and machinery businesses in Japan, North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Thailand, India, Latin America, and internationally. It offers synthetic rubber, engineering plastics, caprolactam, industrial chemicals, liquefied gas, polyethylene, ammonium sulfate, polyimide, battery materials, separation membranes, fine chemicals, ceramics, high purity chemicals, semiconductor gas products, and products for polyurethane resins. The company also provides contract manufacturing services for APIs and intermediates; aromatic SF5 compounds; FLUOLEAD, a novel nucleophilic fluorinating agent; and drug discovery and pipeline services. In addition, it offers cement products, ready mixed concrete, soil stabilizing cement, building materials, limestone, calcia and magnesia, specialty inorganic materials, and resource recycling, as well as sells coal. Further, the company is involved in the supply of electric power. Additionally, it provides die-casting and injection molding machines, and extrusion presses; and UBE vertical mills, kilins, furnaces, dryers, water screening equipment, storage and transportation systems, bridges and steel structures, and steel billets and casting. The company also manufactures and sells nylon, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, plastic films, polypropylene molded products, fibers, fiber-reinforced plastics, and cast iron and steel products. The company was formerly known as Ube Industries, Ltd. UBE Corporation was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Venator Materials

Venator Materials PLC, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets chemical products in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in two segments, Titanium Dioxide and Performance Additives. The Titanium Dioxide segment offers titanium dioxide (TiO2), such as rutile, anatase, and ultrafine TiO2 products for use in coatings, printing inks, PVC window frames, plastic masterbatches, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food, polyester and polyamide fibers, catalysts, and cosmetics products. The Performance Additives segment provides barium and zinc additives for use in coatings, films, and paper and glass fiber reinforced plastics; and colored inorganic pigments comprising iron oxides, ultramarines, specialty inorganic chemicals, and driers for construction, coatings, plastics, cosmetics, inks, catalyst, and laminates. This segment also offers wood protection chemicals for use in residential and commercial applications to prolong the life through protection from decay, fungal, and insect attack; timber treatment chemicals for use in decking, fencing, and other residential outdoor wood structures; and industrial construction products for use in telephone poles, and salt water piers and pilings. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Stockton-On-Tees, the United Kingdom. On May 14, 2023, Venator Materials PLC, along with its affiliates filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.