Orion (OEC) Competitors

Orion (NYSE:OEC) and Cabot (NYSE:CBT) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership and risk.

Is OEC or CBT a better dividend stock?

Orion pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Cabot pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Orion pays out 29.6% 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. Cabot is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in OEC or CBT?

94.3% of Orion shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of Cabot shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Orion shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Cabot shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend OEC or CBT?

Orion presently has a consensus target price of $11.67, suggesting a potential upside of 28.77%. Cabot has a consensus target price of $92.33, suggesting a potential upside of 17.11%. Given Orion's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Orion is more favorable than Cabot.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Orion	3 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
Cabot	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, OEC or CBT?

Cabot has higher revenue and earnings than Orion. Cabot is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Orion, 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
Orion	$1.88B	0.27	$44.20M	$0.27	33.56
Cabot	$3.99B	1.05	$380M	$7.65	10.31

Which has more risk & volatility, OEC or CBT?

Orion has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cabot has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is OEC or CBT more profitable?

Cabot has a net margin of 11.14% compared to Orion's net margin of 0.82%. Cabot's return on equity of 25.68% beat Orion's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Orion	0.82%	16.67%	4.00%
Cabot	11.14%	25.68%	10.92%

Does the media prefer OEC or CBT?

In the previous week, Orion had 6 more articles in the media than Cabot. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Orion and 5 mentions for Cabot. Cabot's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat Orion's score of 0.54 indicating that Cabot is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Orion	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 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

Summary

Cabot beats Orion on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.