Analyzing Celanese (NYSE:CE) & DAQO New Energy (NYSE:DQ)

Celanese (NYSE:CE) and DAQO New Energy (NYSE:DQ) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.9% of Celanese shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.2% of DAQO New Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Celanese shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 24.3% of DAQO New Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Celanese and DAQO New Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Celanese	-16.30%	10.48%	2.70%
DAQO New Energy	-58.63%	-7.16%	-6.48%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Celanese and DAQO New Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Celanese	1	10	6	0	2.29
DAQO New Energy	0	4	4	2	2.80

Celanese currently has a consensus price target of $59.9444, indicating a potential upside of 40.48%. DAQO New Energy has a consensus price target of $23.2229, indicating a potential upside of 9.42%. Given Celanese’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Celanese is more favorable than DAQO New Energy.

Risk and Volatility

Celanese has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DAQO New Energy has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Celanese and DAQO New Energy”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Celanese	$10.28 billion	0.45	-$1.52 billion	($14.82)	-2.88
DAQO New Energy	$1.03 billion	1.38	-$345.21 million	($6.51)	-3.26

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

Summary

Celanese beats DAQO New Energy on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About DAQO New Energy

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp. in August 2009. Daqo New Energy Corp. was founded in 2006 and is based in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.