Financial Contrast: Celanese (NYSE:CE) vs. Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT)

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) and Celanese (NYSE:CE) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ingevity and Celanese”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ingevity	$1.38 billion	1.25	-$430.30 million	($1.82)	-26.36
Celanese	$9.71 billion	0.41	-$1.52 billion	($28.27)	-1.28

Ingevity has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Celanese. Ingevity is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Celanese, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Ingevity and Celanese, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ingevity	1	1	1	0	2.00
Celanese	3	11	7	0	2.19

Ingevity currently has a consensus price target of $61.50, indicating a potential upside of 28.17%. Celanese has a consensus price target of $54.78, indicating a potential upside of 50.92%. Given Celanese’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Celanese is more favorable than Ingevity.

Volatility and Risk

Ingevity has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Celanese has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.6% of Ingevity shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.9% of Celanese shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Ingevity shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Celanese shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Ingevity and Celanese’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ingevity	-16.35%	84.92%	7.95%
Celanese	-16.30%	10.48%	2.70%

About Ingevity

Ingevity Corporation manufactures and sells activated carbon products, derivative specialty chemicals, and engineered polymers in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. It operates through three segments: Performance Materials, Performance Chemicals, and Advanced Polymer Technologies. The Performance Materials segment engineers, manufactures, and sells hardwood-based and chemically activated carbon products for use in gasoline vapor emission control systems in cars, motorcycles, trucks, and boats. This segment also produces other activated carbon products for food, water, beverage, and chemical purification applications. The Performance Chemicals segment consists of road technologies and industrial specialties. This segment's products are used in pavement construction, pavement preservation, pavement reconstruction and recycling, road markings, agrochemical dispersants, paper chemicals, and other industrial uses. The Advanced Polymer Technologies segment produces caprolactone and caprolactone-based specialty polymers for use in coatings, resins, elastomers, adhesives, bioplastics, and medical devices. It serves automotive parts and components manufacturers through sales representatives and distributors. The company was formerly known as WestRock Company, Specialty Chemicals Business and changed its name to Ingevity Corporation in September 2015. Ingevity Corporation was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina.

About Celanese

Celanese Corporation, a chemical and specialty materials company, manufactures and sells high performance engineered polymers in the United States and internationally. It operates through Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain. The Engineered Materials segment develops, produces, and supplies specialty polymers for automotive and medical applications, as well as for use in industrial products and consumer electronics. The Acetyl Chain segment produces and supplies acetyl products, including acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomers, acetic anhydride, and acetate esters that are used as starting materials for colorants, paints, adhesives, coatings, and pharmaceuticals; and organic solvents and intermediates for pharmaceutical, agricultural, and chemical products. It also offers vinyl acetate-based emulsions for use in paints and coatings, adhesives, construction, glass fiber, textiles, and paper applications; and ethylene vinyl acetate resins and compounds, as well as low-density polyethylene for use in flexible packaging films, lamination film products, hot melt adhesives, automotive parts, and carpeting applications. In addition, it provides redispersible powders (RDP) for use in construction applications, including flooring, plasters, insulation, tiling, and waterproofing. Celanese Corporation was founded in 1918 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.