Comparing Celanese (CE) and The Competition

Celanese (NYSE:CE) is one of 295 publicly-traded companies in the “Chemicals” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Celanese to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Celanese and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Celanese	-12.04%	13.04%	2.69%
Celanese Competitors	-61.09%	1.25%	-1.40%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.9% of Celanese shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.5% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Celanese shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.9% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Celanese has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Celanese’s rivals have a beta of 1.26, meaning that their average stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Celanese	1	8	9	1	2.53
Celanese Competitors	3232	12152	14079	515	2.40

Celanese presently has a consensus target price of $60.38, indicating a potential upside of 25.10%. As a group, “Chemicals” companies have a potential upside of 7.09%. Given Celanese’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Celanese is more favorable than its rivals.

Dividends

Celanese pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Celanese pays out -1.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Chemicals” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.1% and pay out 108.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Celanese and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Celanese	$9.54 billion	-$1.17 billion	-4.51
Celanese Competitors	$6.37 billion	$222.31 million	-8.13

Celanese has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its rivals. Celanese is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Celanese beats its rivals on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

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.