ECL vs. SHW, IFF, CE, ALB, RPM, NEU, ASH, BCPC, FUL, and KWR
Should you be buying Ecolab stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Ecolab include Sherwin-Williams (SHW), International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), Celanese (CE), Albemarle (ALB), RPM International (RPM), NewMarket (NEU), Ashland (ASH), Balchem (BCPC), H.B. Fuller (FUL), and Quaker Chemical (KWR). These companies are all part of the "specialty chemicals" industry.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) and Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, community ranking, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.
In the previous week, Sherwin-Williams had 2 more articles in the media than Ecolab. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Sherwin-Williams and 9 mentions for Ecolab. Sherwin-Williams' average media sentiment score of 1.60 beat Ecolab's score of 0.94 indicating that Sherwin-Williams is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Ecolab has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sherwin-Williams has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Sherwin-Williams has a net margin of 10.52% compared to Ecolab's net margin of 10.01%. Sherwin-Williams' return on equity of 73.74% beat Ecolab's return on equity.
Sherwin-Williams has higher revenue and earnings than Ecolab. Sherwin-Williams is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ecolab, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
74.9% of Ecolab shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.7% of Sherwin-Williams shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Ecolab shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Sherwin-Williams shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Ecolab pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Sherwin-Williams pays an annual dividend of $2.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ecolab pays out 42.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sherwin-Williams pays out 30.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.
Ecolab presently has a consensus target price of $239.56, suggesting a potential upside of 3.17%. Sherwin-Williams has a consensus target price of $344.41, suggesting a potential upside of 13.37%. Given Sherwin-Williams' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Sherwin-Williams is more favorable than Ecolab.
Sherwin-Williams received 139 more outperform votes than Ecolab when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.75% of users gave Ecolab an outperform vote while only 64.30% of users gave Sherwin-Williams an outperform vote.
Summary
Sherwin-Williams beats Ecolab on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ECL and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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