Cabot (CBT) Competitors

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) and Cabot (NYSE:CBT) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in WLK or CBT?

28.4% of Westlake shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of Cabot shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Westlake shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Cabot shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is WLK or CBT a better dividend stock?

Westlake pays an annual dividend of $2.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Cabot pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Westlake pays out 70.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cabot pays out 23.3% 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 Cabot has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Westlake is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to WLK or CBT?

In the previous week, Westlake and Westlake both had 4 articles in the media. Cabot's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Westlake's score of 0.56 indicating that Cabot is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Westlake	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cabot	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend WLK or CBT?

Westlake presently has a consensus price target of $89.85, suggesting a potential upside of 11.42%. Cabot has a consensus price target of $92.67, suggesting a potential upside of 19.75%. Given Cabot's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cabot is more favorable than Westlake.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westlake	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54
Cabot	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the MarketBeat Community favor WLK or CBT?

Westlake received 90 more outperform votes than Cabot when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.41% of users gave Cabot an outperform vote while only 56.96% of users gave Westlake an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Westlake	Outperform Votes 483 56.96%	Underperform Votes 365 43.04%
Cabot	Outperform Votes 393 61.41%	Underperform Votes 247 38.59%

Which has better valuation & earnings, WLK or CBT?

Westlake has higher revenue and earnings than Cabot. Cabot is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Westlake, 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	$12.01B	0.86	$479M	$2.98	27.06
Cabot	$3.91B	1.06	$380M	$7.73	10.01

Which has more volatility and risk, WLK or CBT?

Westlake has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cabot has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is WLK or CBT more profitable?

Cabot has a net margin of 10.60% compared to Westlake's net margin of 0.81%. Cabot's return on equity of 26.79% beat Westlake's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westlake	0.81%	6.93%	3.61%
Cabot	10.60%	26.79%	11.24%

Summary

Cabot beats Westlake on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.