Contrasting Toray Industries (OTCMKTS:TRYIY) & Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP)

Toray Industries (OTCMKTS:TRYIY) and Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Toray Industries and Westlake Chemical Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Toray Industries	2.72%	3.76%	2.06%
Westlake Chemical Partners	4.34%	5.99%	3.72%

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 will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Toray Industries has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westlake Chemical Partners has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Toray Industries and Westlake Chemical Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Toray Industries	0	2	0	0	2.00
Westlake Chemical Partners	0	2	0	0	2.00

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Toray Industries and Westlake Chemical Partners”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Toray Industries	$16.83 billion	0.58	$514.21 million	$0.58	20.95
Westlake Chemical Partners	$1.14 billion	0.59	$62.39 million	$1.49	12.66

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

Dividends

Toray Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Westlake Chemical Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.0%. Toray Industries pays out 29.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Westlake Chemical Partners pays out 126.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Westlake Chemical Partners beats Toray Industries on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Toray Industries

Toray Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, processes, and sells fibers and textiles, performance chemicals, carbon fiber composite materials, environment and engineering products, and life science products in Japan, China, North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers filament yarns, staple fibers, and spun yarns, as well as woven and knitted fabrics of nylon, polyester, acrylics, and others; non-woven fabrics; ultra-fine fibers; and apparel products. It also provides nylon, ABS, PBT, PPS, and other resins and molded products; polyolefin foam products; polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, and other films; processed film products; raw materials for synthetic fibers and other plastics; fine chemicals; electronic and information materials; and graphic materials. In addition, the company offers carbon fibers, carbon fiber composite materials, and molded products; analysis, physical evaluation, research, and other services; and pharmaceuticals, medical devices, etc. Further, it provides engineering services; condominiums; industrial equipment and machinery; IT-related equipment; water treatment membranes and related equipment; and materials for housing, building, and civil engineering applications. The company was formerly known as Toyo Rayon Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Toray Industries, Inc. in 1970. The company was incorporated in 1926 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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.