Reviewing Gulf Resources (NASDAQ:GURE) and Celanese (NYSE:CE)

Gulf Resources (NASDAQ:GURE) and Celanese (NYSE:CE) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

3.3% of Gulf Resources shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.9% of Celanese shares are held by institutional investors. 7.7% of Gulf Resources shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Celanese shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Gulf Resources and Celanese”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gulf Resources	$25.42 million	0.22	-$43.92 million	($29.52)	-0.10
Celanese	$9.54 billion	0.54	-$1.17 billion	($10.69)	-4.42

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Gulf Resources and Celanese, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gulf Resources	1	0	0	0	1.00
Celanese	1	8	9	1	2.53

Celanese has a consensus price target of $60.38, indicating a potential upside of 27.78%. Given Celanese’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Celanese is more favorable than Gulf Resources.

Risk and Volatility

Gulf Resources has a beta of -0.02, suggesting that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Celanese has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gulf Resources	-134.41%	-8.95%	-7.40%
Celanese	-12.04%	13.04%	2.69%

Summary

Celanese beats Gulf Resources on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gulf Resources

Gulf Resources, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and trades bromine and crude salt, chemical products, and natural gas in the People’s Republic of China. The company operates through four segments: Bromine, Crude salt, Chemical products, and Natural gas segments. It also provides bromine for use in bromine compounds, intermediates in organic synthesis, brominated flame retardants, fumigants, water purification compounds, dyes, medicines, and disinfectants. In addition, the company offers crude salt for use as a material in alkali and chlorine alkali production for use in the chemical, food and beverage, and other industries. In addition, it manufactures and sells chemical products for use in oil and gas field exploration, oil and gas distribution, oil field drilling, papermaking chemical agents, and inorganic chemicals, as well as materials that are used for human and animal antibiotics. The company is based in Shouguang, the People’s Republic of China.

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.