Westaim (OTCMKTS:WEDXF) vs. Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) Critical Review

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

Volatility & Risk

Westlake Chemical Partners has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westaim has a beta of 0.21, indicating that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westlake Chemical Partners	4.17%	5.99%	3.74%
Westaim	-77.37%	-6.15%	-5.25%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Westlake Chemical Partners and Westaim, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westlake Chemical Partners	0	2	0	0	2.00
Westaim	0	0	0	0	0.00

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Westlake Chemical Partners and Westaim”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westlake Chemical Partners	$1.17 billion	0.67	$48.70 million	$1.38	16.02
Westaim	$53.37 million	10.48	-$38.00 million	($1.26)	-13.29

Westlake Chemical Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Westaim. Westaim 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.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.3% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Westlake Chemical Partners shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Westaim 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.

Summary

Westlake Chemical Partners beats Westaim on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

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 Westaim

The Westaim Corporation is a private equity firm specializing in direct and indirect investments through acquisitions, joint ventures, secondary investments both direct and indirect, fund of fund investments, and other arrangements. For direct investments, the firm invests in early venture, mid venture, late venture, middle market, later stage, mature, emerging growth, PIPEs, and buyout transactions. For fund of fund investments, it seeks to invest in private equity funds, venture capital funds, and hedge funds. The firm seeks to provide long term capital to businesses operating in the global financial services industry. It typically acquires controlling interests in businesses. The firm seeks to acquire debt, equity, or derivative securities of both public and private companies. It invests with the objective of providing its shareholders with capital appreciation and real wealth preservation. The firm seeks to provide its portfolio companies with advisory services including, but not limited to, advice on capital allocation, financing strategy, performance measurement and merger and acquisition support. It also seeks to partner with like-minded providers of third party capital to help supplement the firm's own capital, when completing acquisitions. The firm generally seeks to hold its investments for seven to 15 years. The Westaim Corporation was founded in 1996 and is based in Toronto, Canada.