Head to Head Review: Orion (NYSE:OEC) versus Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) and Orion (NYSE:OEC) are both materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Eastman Chemical and Orion, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastman Chemical	0	7	7	0	2.50
Orion	3	2	0	0	1.40

Eastman Chemical presently has a consensus target price of $79.17, suggesting a potential upside of 10.01%. Orion has a consensus target price of $6.08, suggesting a potential upside of 2.16%. Given Eastman Chemical’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Eastman Chemical is more favorable than Orion.

Profitability

This table compares Eastman Chemical and Orion’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastman Chemical	4.99%	9.46%	3.78%
Orion	-5.28%	-0.31%	-0.06%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

83.7% of Eastman Chemical shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.3% of Orion shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Eastman Chemical shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Orion shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Eastman Chemical pays an annual dividend of $3.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Orion pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Eastman Chemical pays out 87.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Orion pays out -4.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Eastman Chemical has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Eastman Chemical is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Eastman Chemical and Orion”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastman Chemical	$8.75 billion	0.94	$474.00 million	$3.84	18.74
Orion	$1.81 billion	0.19	-$70.10 million	($1.73)	-3.44

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

Risk & Volatility

Eastman Chemical has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orion has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Summary

Eastman Chemical beats Orion on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eastman Chemical

Eastman Chemical Company operates as a specialty materials company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Additives & Functional Products segment offers amine derivative-based building blocks, intermediates for surfactants, metam-based soil fumigants, and organic acid-based solutions; specialty coalescent and solvents, paint additives, and specialty polymers; and heat transfer and aviation fluids. It serves transportation, personal care, wellness, food, feed, agriculture, building and construction, water treatment, energy, consumables, durables, and electronics markets. Its Advanced Materials segment provides copolyesters, cellulosic biopolymers, cellulose esters, polyvinyl butyral sheets, and window and protective films for value-added end uses in the transportation, durables, electronics, building and construction, medical and pharma, and consumables markets. The company's Chemical Intermediates segment offers olefin and acetyl derivatives, ethylene, and commodity solvents; and primary non-phthalate and phthalate plasticizers, and niche non-phthalate plasticizers for industrial chemicals and processing, building and construction, health and wellness, and food and feed. Its Fibers segment provides cellulose acetate tow, triacetin, cellulose acetate flake, acetic acid, and acetic anhydride for use in filtration media primarily cigarette filters; natural and solution dyed acetate yarns, and staple fiber for use in consumables, and health and wellness markets; and wet-laid nonwoven media, specialty and engineered papers, and cellulose acetate fibers for transportation, industrial, agriculture and mining, and aerospace markets. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee.

About Orion

Orion S.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of carbon black products. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and conductive carbon black grades for batteries, polymers, and coatings. It also provides rubber carbon black products for applications in mechanical rubber goods, as well as in tires under the ECORAX brand name; and acetylene-based conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries and other applications. It operates in the United States, Brazil, rest of the Americas, Germany, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Turkey, France, Rest of EMEA, China, the Republic of Korea, and rest of Asia. The company was formerly known as Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. and changed its name to Orion S.A. in June 2023. Orion S.A. was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Senningerberg, Luxembourg.