Cabot (CBT) Competitors

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

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, CBT or WLK?

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
Cabot	$3.99B	1.05	$380M	$7.53	10.25
Westlake	$12.14B	0.97	$479M	$4.63	19.86

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CBT or WLK?

Westlake received 81 more outperform votes than Cabot when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.50% of users gave Cabot an outperform vote while only 57.04% of users gave Westlake an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cabot	Outperform Votes 393 61.50%	Underperform Votes 246 38.50%
Westlake	Outperform Votes 474 57.04%	Underperform Votes 357 42.96%

Which has more risk and volatility, CBT or WLK?

Cabot has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westlake has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CBT or WLK a better dividend stock?

Cabot pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Westlake pays an annual dividend of $2.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Cabot pays out 22.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Westlake pays out 45.4% 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 13 consecutive years and Westlake has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years. Westlake is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend CBT or WLK?

Cabot currently has a consensus price target of $92.67, suggesting a potential upside of 20.03%. Westlake has a consensus price target of $122.25, suggesting a potential upside of 32.92%. Given Westlake's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Westlake is more favorable than Cabot.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cabot	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Westlake	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

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

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

Is CBT or WLK 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
Cabot	10.60%	26.79%	11.24%
Westlake	0.81%	6.93%	3.61%

Does the media favor CBT or WLK?

In the previous week, Cabot had 6 more articles in the media than Westlake. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Cabot and 11 mentions for Westlake. Cabot's average media sentiment score of 1.47 beat Westlake's score of 0.91 indicating that Cabot is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cabot	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Westlake	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

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