WLK vs. LYB, CBT, HWKN, KRO, KOP, TG, IFF, NEU, MEOH, and SXT
Should you be buying Westlake stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Westlake include LyondellBasell Industries (LYB), Cabot (CBT), Hawkins (HWKN), Kronos Worldwide (KRO), Koppers (KOP), Tredegar (TG), International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), NewMarket (NEU), Methanex (MEOH), and Sensient Technologies (SXT).
Westlake (NYSE:WLK) and LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, community ranking, dividends, risk, earnings, media sentiment and valuation.
LyondellBasell Industries has a net margin of 5.20% compared to Westlake's net margin of 2.13%. LyondellBasell Industries' return on equity of 19.31% beat Westlake's return on equity.
Westlake pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. LyondellBasell Industries pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Westlake pays out 100.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. LyondellBasell Industries pays out 77.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. LyondellBasell Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
In the previous week, LyondellBasell Industries had 5 more articles in the media than Westlake. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for LyondellBasell Industries and 2 mentions for Westlake. Westlake's average media sentiment score of 0.95 beat LyondellBasell Industries' score of 0.89 indicating that Westlake is being referred to more favorably in the media.
LyondellBasell Industries received 286 more outperform votes than Westlake when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.87% of users gave LyondellBasell Industries an outperform vote while only 58.08% of users gave Westlake an outperform vote.
Westlake has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LyondellBasell Industries has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Westlake presently has a consensus price target of $151.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.95%. LyondellBasell Industries has a consensus price target of $105.08, indicating a potential upside of 5.70%. Given LyondellBasell Industries' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe LyondellBasell Industries is more favorable than Westlake.
28.4% of Westlake shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.2% of LyondellBasell Industries shares are held by institutional investors. 74.1% of Westlake shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of LyondellBasell Industries shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
LyondellBasell Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Westlake. LyondellBasell Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Westlake, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
LyondellBasell Industries beats Westlake on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WLK 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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