Head to Head Comparison: Air China (OTCMKTS:AIRYY) vs. Nitto Denko (OTCMKTS:NDEKY)

Air China (OTCMKTS:AIRYY) and Nitto Denko (OTCMKTS:NDEKY) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Dividends

Air China pays an annual dividend of $0.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Nitto Denko pays an annual dividend of $0.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Air China pays out 300.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Nitto Denko pays out 8.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nitto Denko is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Air China and Nitto Denko, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air China	0	0	0	0	N/A
Nitto Denko	0	0	0	0	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Air China has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nitto Denko has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Air China and Nitto Denko”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air China	$21.01 billion	0.42	-$146.93 million	$0.03	354.00
Nitto Denko	$6.34 billion	0.75	$708.49 million	$2.47	6.71

Nitto Denko has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Air China. Nitto Denko is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Air China, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Air China and Nitto Denko’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air China	-0.34%	-1.50%	-0.17%
Nitto Denko	12.91%	12.60%	9.90%

Summary

Nitto Denko beats Air China on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Air China

Air China Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides air passenger, air cargo, and airline-related services in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, China, and internationally. The company operates in Airline Operations and Other Operations segments. It provides aircraft engineering and airport ground handling services. The company is also involved in the import and export trading activities; and provision of cabin, airline catering, air ticketing, human resources, aircraft overhaul and maintenance, and financial services. Air China Limited was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

About Nitto Denko

Nitto Denko Corporation primarily engages in the adhesive tapes business in Japan, the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. It provides double sided tapes, surface protective films, sealing materials, masking tapes, membranes, FPD/touch panel related products, gasket materials, semiconductor manufacturing process products, flexible printed circuit boards, porous films/breathable materials, and packaging tapes. The company also offers functional thermal transfer systems, such as labels, barcode label printers, and label printing software; tapes for electrical and electronic equipment; dust removal products for clean rooms; fluoroplastic sheets and tapes, and fluoroplastic porous films; and materials for housing and construction. In addition, it provides medical products, including transdermal therapeutic systems, athletic tapes, medical adhesive tapes for wearable devices and body sensors, adhesive tapes, and particles for nucleic acid synthesis. The company offers its products to automotive and transportation, housing/housing equipment, infrastructure, material, home appliance and electrical, display, electronic device, medical, packaging, and consumer/personal care industries. Nitto Denko Corporation was incorporated in 1918 and is headquartered in Osaka, Japan.