DOW (DOW) Competitors

DOW (NYSE:DOW) 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 institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Which has more volatility and risk, DOW or CBT?

DOW has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cabot has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is DOW or CBT a better dividend stock?

DOW pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Cabot pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. DOW pays out -100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cabot pays out 23.5% 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 raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. DOW is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts rate DOW or CBT?

DOW presently has a consensus price target of $30.74, suggesting a potential upside of 28.47%. Cabot has a consensus price target of $92.33, suggesting a potential upside of 14.91%. Given DOW's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe DOW is more favorable than Cabot.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DOW	2 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.16
Cabot	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media refer more to DOW or CBT?

In the previous week, DOW had 15 more articles in the media than Cabot. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for DOW and 12 mentions for Cabot. Cabot's average media sentiment score of 1.62 beat DOW's score of 0.14 indicating that Cabot is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
DOW	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	22 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Cabot	12 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, DOW or CBT?

DOW has higher revenue and earnings than Cabot. DOW is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cabot, 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
DOW	$42.96B	0.39	$1.12B	-$1.40	-17.09
Cabot	$3.99B	1.07	$380M	$7.65	10.50

Is DOW or CBT more profitable?

Cabot has a net margin of 11.14% compared to DOW's net margin of -2.35%. Cabot's return on equity of 25.68% beat DOW's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DOW	-2.35%	0.31%	0.10%
Cabot	11.14%	25.68%	10.92%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of DOW or CBT?

64.0% of DOW shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of Cabot shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of DOW shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Cabot shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

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