Celanese (NYSE:CE) and Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Head to Head Analysis

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) and Celanese (NYSE:CE) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Linde and Celanese’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Linde	20.30%	19.52%	9.10%
Celanese	-31.85%	9.87%	2.29%

Risk & Volatility

Linde has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Celanese has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Linde and Celanese, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Linde	0	3	7	1	2.82
Celanese	3	11	7	0	2.19

Linde presently has a consensus price target of $508.20, indicating a potential upside of 5.65%. Celanese has a consensus price target of $55.44, indicating a potential downside of 5.74%. Given Linde’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Linde is more favorable than Celanese.

Dividends

Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Celanese pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Linde pays out 41.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Celanese pays out -0.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Linde has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Linde is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

82.8% of Linde shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.9% of Celanese shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Linde shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Celanese shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Linde and Celanese”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Linde	$33.99 billion	6.61	$6.90 billion	$14.59	32.97
Celanese	$9.71 billion	0.66	-$1.52 billion	($28.27)	-2.08

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

Summary

Linde beats Celanese on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene. The company also designs and constructs turnkey process plants for third-party customers, as well as for the gas businesses in various locations, such as air separation, hydrogen, synthesis, olefin, and natural gas plants. It serves a range of industries, including healthcare, chemicals and energy, manufacturing, metals and mining, food and beverage, and electronics. The company was founded in 1879 and is based in Woking, the United Kingdom.

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.