Reviewing Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) and PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (OTCMKTS:PECGF)

PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (OTCMKTS:PECGF) and Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad and Huntsman, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad	0	0	1	0	3.00
Huntsman	2	5	3	0	2.10

Huntsman has a consensus target price of $26.73, indicating a potential upside of 7.68%. Given Huntsman’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Huntsman is more favorable than PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad.

Dividends

PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 21.4%. Huntsman pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad pays out 66.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Huntsman pays out -192.3% 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. Huntsman has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad and Huntsman’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad	N/A	N/A	N/A
Huntsman	-1.49%	0.67%	0.32%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.8% of Huntsman shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.1% of Huntsman shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad and Huntsman’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.30	3.10
Huntsman	$6.11 billion	0.70	$101.00 million	($0.52)	-47.73

Huntsman has higher revenue and earnings than PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad. Huntsman is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Huntsman beats PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad

PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad, an investment holding company, engages in production and sale of chemicals. The company operates through Olefins and Derivatives, Fertilisers and Methanol, Specialties, and Other segments. It offers polymers comprising HDPE blown films, blow moulding, and pipes; linear low density polyethylene; and homopolymer, copolymer, and terpolymer; and PETRONAS Wellbore, PETRONAS Rig, and PETRONAS Tank solutions. In addition, the company offers ethylene, propylene, ethylene glycols, butyl glycol ethers, butanol (n-butanol and iso-butanol), butyl acetate, polyethylene glycols, ethonas FAE, nonylphenol ethoxylates, ethanolamines ethonas, and gas treating solvents; methanol, paraxylene, benzene, methyl tertiary butyl ether, and butadiene; ammonia and urea; PETRONAS Aireblue, a diesel exhaust fluid; and oxo-alcohols, as well as trades in and distributes chemical products. Further, it engages in processing feedstock into ammonia, syngas, carbon monoxide, paraxylene, benzene and other byproducts, n-butane, hydrocarbon by-products, isobutylene ethylene oxide derivatives, propylene derivatives, and related chemical products; and manufacturing of basic specialty polyols and propionates, formats, organic acids and formaldehyde, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, plasticizers, phthalic anhydride, trimethylolpropane, pentaerythritol, di- pentaerythritol, and sodium and calcium formate, preservative acids, nutritional salts, and other chemical products. Additionally, the company owns, operates, and manages Kertih marine facilities; processing natural gas into urea and ammonia; reselling, formulating, and manufacturing silicones, lube oil additives, and chemicals; and real estate business. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad operates as a subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Berhad.

About Huntsman

Huntsman Corporation manufactures and sells diversified organic chemical products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Polyurethanes, Performance Products, and Advanced Materials. The Polyurethanes segment offers polyurethane chemicals, including methyl diphenyl diisocyanate, polyether and polyester polyols, and thermoplastic polyurethane; and aniline, benzene, nitrobenzene and other co-products. The Performance Products segment manufactures amines, such as polyetheramines, ethyleneamines, DGA Agent, JEFFCAT catalysts, and E-GRADE specialty amines and carbonates; and maleic anhydrides. The Advanced Materials segment offers epoxy, phenoxy, acrylic, polyurethane, and acrylonitrile-butadiene-based polymer formulations; and thermoset resins, curing and toughening agents, and carbon nanomaterials. The company provides pre-and post-sales technical service support to customers. Its products are used in a range of applications, including adhesives, aerospace, automotive, construction products, durable and non-durable consumer products, electronics, insulation, packaging, coatings and construction, power generation, and refining, as well as serves the elastomers, insulation, footwear, furniture, industrial, oil and gas, liquid natural gas transport, printed circuit boards, consumer, appliances, electrical power transmission and distribution, recreational sports equipment, and medical appliances markets. The company sells its products through a network of distributors and agents. Huntsman Corporation was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.