Element Solutions Inc. (ESI) vs Westlake Corporation (WLK)

Element Solutions Inc. and Westlake Corporation are both Specialty Chemicals companies. Element Solutions Inc. and Westlake Corporation are of similar size ($8.5B and $8.4B). Westlake Corporation has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; Element Solutions Inc. trades at 48.3×. Element Solutions Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 26.6% against −3.95%. Element Solutions Inc. has the higher net margin (5.67% vs −10.9%) and the higher return on invested capital (5.20% vs −6.26%). Both pay a dividend; Element Solutions Inc. yields more (1.15% vs 1.14%). Across the 21 metrics below, Element Solutions Inc. leads on 15 and Westlake Corporation on 6.

Valuation

Metric ESI WLK Specialty Chemicals median
P/E 48.26 n/m 24.83
P/S 2.76 0.77 1.46
P/B 3.08 0.94 1.76
Price to free cash flow 62.81 n/m 19.84
EV/EBITDA 19.03 18.98 13.18
EV/Sales 3.37 1.10 1.84
Earnings yield 2.07% (14.15%) 2.11%
Free cash flow yield 1.59% (3.06%) 2.29%

Profitability

Metric ESI WLK Specialty Chemicals median
Gross margin 38.42% 9.62% 29.23%
Operating margin 12.56% (11.02%) 3.63%
Net margin 5.67% (10.86%) 2.89%
Free cash flow margin 4.40% (2.35%) 3.78%
Return on equity 6.53% (12.27%) 3.62%
Return on assets 3.31% (6.10%) 0.35%
Return on invested capital 5.20% (6.26%) 2.75%

Growth

Metric ESI WLK Specialty Chemicals median
Revenue growth (TTM) 26.61% (3.95%) 4.51%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (21.78%) (352.16%) —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 6.60% 8.28% 6.30%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 20.31% 0.00% 0.00%

Health

Metric ESI WLK Specialty Chemicals median
Debt to equity 0.75 0.55 0.54
Current ratio 2.91 2.45 1.94
Net debt to EBITDA 2.03 8.12 2.03

Dividend

Metric ESI WLK Specialty Chemicals median
Dividend yield 1.15% 1.14% 1.69%
Payout ratio 1.52 0.14 0.25

Size

Metric ESI WLK Specialty Chemicals median
Market cap 8.41b 8.53b 2.43b

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