Head-To-Head Contrast: Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) & PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (OTCMKTS:PECGF)

Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) and PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (OTCMKTS:PECGF) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Dividends

Westlake Chemical Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 21.4%. Westlake Chemical Partners pays out 122.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad pays out 66.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Westlake Chemical Partners and PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westlake Chemical Partners	0	0	0	0	N/A
PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad	0	0	1	0	3.00

Westlake Chemical Partners currently has a consensus price target of $26.50, suggesting a potential upside of 20.45%. Given Westlake Chemical Partners’ higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Westlake Chemical Partners is more favorable than PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad.

Profitability

This table compares Westlake Chemical Partners and PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westlake Chemical Partners	4.64%	6.32%	4.10%
PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Westlake Chemical Partners and PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westlake Chemical Partners	$1.19 billion	0.65	$54.28 million	$1.54	14.29
PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.30	3.10

Westlake Chemical Partners has higher revenue and earnings than PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Westlake Chemical Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

78.3% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Westlake Chemical Partners beats PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Westlake Chemical Partners

Westlake Chemical Partners LP acquires, develops, and operates ethylene production facilities and related assets in the United States. The company's ethylene production facilities primarily convert ethane into ethylene. It also sells ethylene co-products, such as propylene, crude butadiene, pyrolysis gasoline, and hydrogen directly to third parties on either a spot or contract basis. Westlake Chemical Partners GP LLC serves as the general partner of the company. Westlake Chemical Partners LP was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad

PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad, an investment holding company, engages in production and sale of chemicals. The company operates through Olefins and Derivatives, Fertilisers and Methanol, Specialties, and Other segments. It offers polymers comprising HDPE blown films, blow moulding, and pipes; linear low density polyethylene; and homopolymer, copolymer, and terpolymer; and PETRONAS Wellbore, PETRONAS Rig, and PETRONAS Tank solutions. In addition, the company offers ethylene, propylene, ethylene glycols, butyl glycol ethers, butanol (n-butanol and iso-butanol), butyl acetate, polyethylene glycols, ethonas FAE, nonylphenol ethoxylates, ethanolamines ethonas, and gas treating solvents; methanol, paraxylene, benzene, methyl tertiary butyl ether, and butadiene; ammonia and urea; PETRONAS Aireblue, a diesel exhaust fluid; and oxo-alcohols, as well as trades in and distributes chemical products. Further, it engages in processing feedstock into ammonia, syngas, carbon monoxide, paraxylene, benzene and other byproducts, n-butane, hydrocarbon by-products, isobutylene ethylene oxide derivatives, propylene derivatives, and related chemical products; and manufacturing of basic specialty polyols and propionates, formats, organic acids and formaldehyde, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, plasticizers, phthalic anhydride, trimethylolpropane, pentaerythritol, di- pentaerythritol, and sodium and calcium formate, preservative acids, nutritional salts, and other chemical products. Additionally, the company owns, operates, and manages Kertih marine facilities; processing natural gas into urea and ammonia; reselling, formulating, and manufacturing silicones, lube oil additives, and chemicals; and real estate business. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad operates as a subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Berhad.