Westlake (WLK) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend ASIX or WLK?

AdvanSix currently has a consensus price target of $33.50, suggesting a potential upside of 55.10%. Westlake has a consensus price target of $92.29, suggesting a potential upside of 4.06%. Given AdvanSix's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe AdvanSix is more favorable than Westlake.

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

Is ASIX or WLK more profitable?

AdvanSix has a net margin of 5.10% compared to Westlake's net margin of -0.57%. AdvanSix's return on equity of 10.02% beat Westlake's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AdvanSix	5.10%	10.02%	4.97%
Westlake	-0.57%	1.26%	0.66%

Is ASIX or WLK a better dividend stock?

AdvanSix pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Westlake pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. AdvanSix pays out 22.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Westlake pays out -400.0% 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. AdvanSix has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Westlake has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in ASIX or WLK?

86.4% of AdvanSix shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.4% of Westlake shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of AdvanSix shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Westlake shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, ASIX or WLK?

AdvanSix has a beta of 1.64, meaning that its stock price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westlake has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better valuation and earnings, ASIX or WLK?

Westlake has higher revenue and earnings than AdvanSix. Westlake is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AdvanSix, 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
AdvanSix	$1.52B	0.38	$44.15M	$2.84	7.61
Westlake	$12.14B	0.94	$602M	-$0.53	-167.34

Does the media refer more to ASIX or WLK?

In the previous week, Westlake had 7 more articles in the media than AdvanSix. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Westlake and 4 mentions for AdvanSix. AdvanSix's average media sentiment score of 1.64 beat Westlake's score of 1.42 indicating that AdvanSix is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AdvanSix	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Westlake	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

AdvanSix beats Westlake on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.