Comparing Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) and Celanese (NYSE:CE)

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.9% of Celanese shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Celanese shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Green Plains shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Celanese and Green Plains, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Celanese	3	12	6	0	2.14
Green Plains	2	5	3	1	2.27

Celanese presently has a consensus price target of $53.06, indicating a potential upside of 11.62%. Green Plains has a consensus price target of $10.00, indicating a potential downside of 14.46%. Given Celanese’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Celanese is more favorable than Green Plains.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Celanese and Green Plains”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Celanese	$10.28 billion	0.51	-$1.52 billion	($28.27)	-1.68
Green Plains	$2.46 billion	0.33	-$82.50 million	($2.92)	-4.00

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

Profitability

This table compares Celanese and Green Plains’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Celanese	-31.85%	9.87%	2.29%
Green Plains	-8.37%	-16.78%	-8.14%

Volatility and Risk

Celanese has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Green Plains has a beta of 1.44, indicating that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Celanese beats Green Plains on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Green Plains

Green Plains Inc. produces low-carbon fuels in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Ethanol Production, Agribusiness and Energy Services, and Partnership. The Ethanol Production segment produces ethanol, distillers grains, and ultra-high protein and renewable corn oil. The Agribusiness and Energy Services segment engages in the grain procurement, handling and storage, commodity marketing business; and trading of ethanol, distiller grains, renewable corn oil, grain, natural gas, and other commodities in various markets. This segment also provides grain drying and storage services to grain producers. The Partnership segment offers fuel storage and transportation services. It operates 24 ethanol storage facilities; two fuel terminal facilities; and a fleet of approximately 2,180 leased railcars. The company was formerly known as Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. and changed its name to Green Plains Inc. in May 2014. Green Plains Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.