Hawkins (HWKN) Competitors

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) and Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in WLK or HWKN?

28.4% of Westlake shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.7% of Hawkins shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Westlake shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Hawkins shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, WLK or HWKN?

Westlake has higher revenue and earnings than Hawkins. Westlake is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hawkins, 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
Westlake	$12.14B	0.90	$602M	-$0.53	-160.91
Hawkins	$974.43M	3.67	$84.35M	$4.06	42.20

Which has more risk & volatility, WLK or HWKN?

Westlake has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hawkins has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is WLK or HWKN more profitable?

Hawkins has a net margin of 8.37% compared to Westlake's net margin of -0.57%. Hawkins' return on equity of 18.35% beat Westlake's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westlake	-0.57%	1.26%	0.66%
Hawkins	8.37%	18.35%	10.73%

Does the media favor WLK or HWKN?

In the previous week, Hawkins had 1 more articles in the media than Westlake. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Hawkins and 13 mentions for Westlake. Hawkins' average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat Westlake's score of 1.21 indicating that Hawkins is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Westlake	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hawkins	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is WLK or HWKN a better dividend stock?

Westlake pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Hawkins pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Westlake pays out -400.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hawkins pays out 18.7% 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. Westlake has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years and Hawkins has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years. Westlake is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend WLK or HWKN?

Westlake currently has a consensus target price of $92.29, suggesting a potential upside of 8.21%. Hawkins has a consensus target price of $162.50, suggesting a potential downside of 5.16%. Given Westlake's higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Westlake is more favorable than Hawkins.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westlake	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Hawkins	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Summary

Hawkins beats Westlake on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.