Cabot (CBT) Competitors

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) and Cabot (NYSE:CBT) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, community ranking, media sentiment, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Is ESI or CBT more profitable?

Cabot has a net margin of 11.24% compared to Cabot's net margin of 5.06%. Element Solutions' return on equity of 25.52% beat Cabot's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Element Solutions	5.06%	13.51%	6.29%
Cabot	11.24%	25.52%	9.66%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ESI or CBT?

Cabot received 345 more outperform votes than Element Solutions when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.90% of users gave Cabot an outperform vote while only 38.83% of users gave Element Solutions an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Element Solutions	Outperform Votes 40 38.83%	Underperform Votes 63 61.17%
Cabot	Outperform Votes 385 61.90%	Underperform Votes 237 38.10%

Which has higher earnings & valuation, ESI or CBT?

Cabot has higher revenue and earnings than Element Solutions. Cabot is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Element Solutions, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Element Solutions	$2.33B	2.43	$118.10M	$0.49	47.80
Cabot	$3.93B	1.30	$445M	$7.70	11.95

Is ESI or CBT a better dividend stock?

Element Solutions pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Cabot pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Element Solutions pays out 65.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cabot pays out 20.8% 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. Cabot has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Cabot is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor ESI or CBT?

In the previous week, Element Solutions had 7 more articles in the media than Cabot. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Element Solutions and 3 mentions for Cabot. Cabot's average media sentiment score of 0.65 beat Element Solutions' score of 0.60 indicating that Element Solutions is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Element Solutions	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cabot	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer ESI or CBT?

Element Solutions currently has a consensus target price of $26.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.40%. Cabot has a consensus target price of $90.17, indicating a potential downside of 2.24%. Given Cabot's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Element Solutions is more favorable than Cabot.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Element Solutions	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Cabot	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ESI or CBT?

92.3% of Element Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of Cabot shares are held by institutional investors. 7.9% of Element Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Cabot shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, ESI or CBT?

Element Solutions has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cabot has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cabot beats Element Solutions on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.