Cabot (CBT) Competitors

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

Which has more risk and volatility, WLK or CBT?

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WLK or CBT?

Westlake received 81 more outperform votes than Cabot when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.44% of users gave Cabot an outperform vote while only 57.13% of users gave Westlake an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Westlake	Outperform Votes 473 57.13%	Underperform Votes 355 42.87%
Cabot	Outperform Votes 392 61.44%	Underperform Votes 246 38.56%

Is WLK or CBT a better dividend stock?

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

Do analysts rate WLK or CBT?

Westlake presently has a consensus price target of $129.38, suggesting a potential upside of 43.59%. Cabot has a consensus price target of $93.25, suggesting a potential upside of 18.05%. Given Westlake's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Westlake is more favorable than Cabot.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westlake	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62
Cabot	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has stronger 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	$12.14B	0.95	$479M	$4.63	19.46
Cabot	$3.99B	1.07	$380M	$7.53	10.49

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%

Does the media favor WLK or CBT?

In the previous week, Westlake had 11 more articles in the media than Cabot. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Westlake and 17 mentions for Cabot. Westlake's average media sentiment score of 0.88 beat Cabot's score of 0.42 indicating that Westlake is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Westlake	15 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cabot	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

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

28.4% of Westlake shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of Cabot shares are owned by institutional investors. 74.1% of Westlake shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Cabot shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

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