Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) versus Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) Critical Survey

Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) and Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Westlake Chemical Partners and Quaker Houghton”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westlake Chemical Partners	$1.17 billion	0.68	$48.70 million	$1.38	16.19
Quaker Houghton	$1.89 billion	1.30	-$2.49 million	($0.12)	-1,179.06

Westlake Chemical Partners has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Quaker Houghton. Quaker Houghton 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.

Risk and Volatility

Westlake Chemical Partners has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Quaker Houghton has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Westlake Chemical Partners and Quaker Houghton, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westlake Chemical Partners	0	2	0	0	2.00
Quaker Houghton	1	1	3	0	2.40

Quaker Houghton has a consensus price target of $179.50, suggesting a potential upside of 26.87%. Given Quaker Houghton’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Quaker Houghton is more favorable than Westlake Chemical Partners.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.3% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.5% of Quaker Houghton shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Quaker Houghton shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Westlake Chemical Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.5%. Quaker Houghton pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Westlake Chemical Partners pays out 137.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Quaker Houghton pays out -1,691.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Quaker Houghton has raised its dividend for 17 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Westlake Chemical Partners and Quaker Houghton’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westlake Chemical Partners	4.17%	5.99%	3.74%
Quaker Houghton	-0.13%	8.99%	4.42%

Summary

Quaker Houghton beats Westlake Chemical Partners on 10 of the 17 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 Quaker Houghton

Quaker Chemical Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets various formulated specialty chemical products for a range of heavy industrial and manufacturing applications in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It offers metal removal fluids, cleaning fluids, corrosion inhibitors, metal drawing and forming fluids, die-cast mold releases, heat treatment and quenchants, metal forging fluids, hydraulic fluids, specialty greases, offshore sub-sea energy control fluids, rolling lubricants, rod and wire drawing fluids, and surface treatment chemicals. The company also provides chemical management services. It serves steel, aluminum, automotive, aerospace, offshore, container, mining, and metalworking companies. The company was founded in 1918 and is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.