Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) & Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) Head to Head Comparison

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

74.9% of Ecolab shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.3% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ecolab shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Ecolab and Westlake Chemical Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ecolab	0	3	18	1	2.91
Westlake Chemical Partners	0	1	1	0	2.50

Ecolab currently has a consensus price target of $328.58, indicating a potential upside of 9.23%. Westlake Chemical Partners has a consensus price target of $26.00, indicating a potential upside of 22.57%. Given Westlake Chemical Partners’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Westlake Chemical Partners is more favorable than Ecolab.

Risk & Volatility

Ecolab has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westlake Chemical Partners has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ecolab and Westlake Chemical Partners”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ecolab	$17.37 billion	4.86	$2.08 billion	$7.35	40.93
Westlake Chemical Partners	$1.17 billion	0.64	$48.70 million	$1.67	12.70

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ecolab	11.99%	22.57%	8.23%
Westlake Chemical Partners	4.77%	7.55%	4.80%

Dividends

Ecolab pays an annual dividend of $2.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Westlake Chemical Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.9%. Ecolab pays out 39.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Westlake Chemical Partners pays out 113.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ecolab has increased its dividend for 33 consecutive years.

Summary

Ecolab beats Westlake Chemical Partners on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc. provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries. Its Global Institutional & Specialty segment provides specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the foodservice, hospitality, lodging, government and education, and retail industries. The Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segment offers specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the healthcare, personal care, and pharmaceutical industries, such as infection prevention and surgical solutions, and end-to-end cleaning and contamination control solutions under the Ecolab, Microtek, and Anios brand names. In addition, the company provides pest elimination services to detect, eliminate, and prevent pests, such as rodents and insects in restaurants, food and beverage processors, hotels, grocery operations, and other commercial segments including education, life sciences, and healthcare customers. Further, it offers colloidal silica for binding and polishing applications in semiconductor, catalyst, and aerospace component manufacturing, as well as chemical industries; and products and services that manage wash process through custom designed programs, premium products, dispensing equipment, water and energy management, and reduction, as well as real time data management. It sells its products through field sales and corporate account personnel, distributors, and dealers. Ecolab Inc. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

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.