Financial Contrast: Mativ (NYSE:MATV) vs. Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP)

Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) and Mativ (NYSE:MATV) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Westlake Chemical Partners and Mativ”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westlake Chemical Partners	$1.14 billion	0.59	$62.39 million	$1.40	13.55
Mativ	$1.98 billion	0.33	-$48.70 million	($8.03)	-1.50

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

Volatility & Risk

Westlake Chemical Partners has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mativ has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westlake Chemical Partners	4.34%	6.00%	3.75%
Mativ	-22.03%	7.06%	1.73%

Dividends

Westlake Chemical Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.0%. Mativ pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Westlake Chemical Partners pays out 135.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mativ pays out -5.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mativ has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Westlake Chemical Partners and Mativ, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westlake Chemical Partners	0	2	0	0	2.00
Mativ	1	1	1	0	2.00

Mativ has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential downside of 17.22%. Given Mativ’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mativ is more favorable than Westlake Chemical Partners.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

78.3% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.0% of Mativ shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Mativ shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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 Mativ

Mativ Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells specialty materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Advanced Technical Materials and Fiber-Based Solutions. The Advanced Technical Materials manufactures and sells various engineered polymer, resin and fiber-based substrates, nets, films, adhesive tapes, and other nonwovens for the filtration, protective solutions, release liners, and healthcare end-markets. This segment sells its products directly, as well as through sales agents and distributors. The Fiber-Based Solutions segment produces packaging and specialty paper products. This segment provides premium packaging products that are used for wine, spirits and beer labels, folding cartons, box wrap, bags, hang tags, and stored value cards servicing retail, cosmetics, spirits, and electronics end-use markets; and premium papers, which are used in commercial printing services, advertising collateral, stationery, corporate identity packages and brochures, direct mail, business cards, and other uses. It also offers branded paper-based products for the consumer channel, such as bright papers, cardstock, stationery paper, envelopes, journals, and planners. This segment distributes its products through authorized paper distributors, converters, retailers, and specialty business converters, as well as directly to end-users. The company was formerly known as Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and changed its name to Mativ Holdings, Inc. in July 2022. Mativ Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.