Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) and LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) have been rivals in the Specialty Chemicals for quite some time. Below is a review of each business including various aspects such as analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stepan Company	1.99B	1.03	112.76M	4.90	19.10
LyondellBasell Industries N.V.	39.00B	0.88	4.69B	12.02	7.08

Table 1 shows gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation of the two companies. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is observed to has higher revenue and earnings than Stepan Company. Company that presently has a higher P/E ratio means that it is the more expensive of the two businesses. Stepan Company’s presently higher P/E ratio makes it the more expensive of the two businesses.

Profitability

Table 2 provides us Stepan Company and LyondellBasell Industries N.V.’s return on equity, net margins and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stepan Company	5.67%	14.6%	7.6%
LyondellBasell Industries N.V.	12.03%	45.1%	16.9%

Risk and Volatility

Stepan Company is 28.00% more volatile than S&P 500 due to its 1.28 beta. From a competition point of view, LyondellBasell Industries N.V. has a 1.13 beta which is 13.00% more volatile compared to S&P 500.

Liquidity

The Current Ratio and Quick Ratio of Stepan Company are 2.4 and 1.8 respectively. Its competitor LyondellBasell Industries N.V.’s Current Ratio is 1.9 and its Quick Ratio is 1.1. Stepan Company can pay off short and long-term obligations better than LyondellBasell Industries N.V.

Dividends

Stepan Company shareholders receive an annual dividend of $0.93 per share which is subject to 1.03% dividend yield. The dividend yield for LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is 4.34% while its annual dividend payout is $4 per share.

Analyst Ratings

Stepan Company and LyondellBasell Industries N.V. Ratings and Recommendations are available in the next table.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stepan Company	0	0	1	3.00
LyondellBasell Industries N.V.	0	1	4	2.80

$94 is Stepan Company’s average target price while its potential upside is 3.79%. Competitively the average target price of LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is $111.4, which is potential 20.86% upside. The information presented earlier suggests that LyondellBasell Industries N.V. looks more robust than Stepan Company as far as analyst opinion.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

Roughly 73.2% of Stepan Company shares are held by institutional investors while 75.3% of LyondellBasell Industries N.V. are owned by institutional investors. Insiders held roughly 2.4% of Stepan Company’s shares. On the other hand, insiders held about 0.1% of LyondellBasell Industries N.V.’s shares.

Performance

Here are the Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half Yearly, Yearly and YTD Performance of both pretenders.

	Performance (W)	Performance (M)	Performance (Q)	Performance (HY)	Performance (Y)	Performance (YTD)
Stepan Company	-0.67%	6.51%	14.53%	4.72%	15.86%	26.55%
LyondellBasell Industries N.V.	-3.94%	-2.15%	-7.52%	-25.99%	-21.3%	2.33%

For the past year Stepan Company’s stock price has bigger growth than LyondellBasell Industries N.V.

Summary

On 12 of the 17 factors LyondellBasell Industries N.V. beats Stepan Company.

Stepan Company, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells specialty and intermediate chemicals to other manufacturers for use in various end products worldwide. It operates in three segments: Surfactants, Polymers, and Specialty Products. The Surfactants segment offers surfactants that are used as principal ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning products, such as detergents for washing clothes, dishes, carpets, floors, and walls, as well as shampoos and body washes; and other applications, including fabric softeners, germicidal quaternary compounds, and lubricating ingredients, as well as emulsifiers for spreading agricultural products and industrial applications, such as latex systems, plastics, and composites. The Polymers segment provides polyurethane polyols that are used in the manufacture of rigid foam for thermal insulation in the construction industry, as well as a base raw material for coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers, and flexible foams; polyester resins, including liquid and powdered resins, which are used in CASE and polyurethane systems house applications; and phthalic anhydride that is used in unsaturated polyester resins, alkyd resins, and plasticizers for applications in construction materials and components of automotive, boating, and other consumer products. The Specialty Products segment offers flavors, emulsifiers, and solubilizers for use in the food, flavoring, nutritional supplement, and pharmaceutical applications. The company was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Northfield, Illinois.

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. operates as a manufacturer of chemicals and polymers, refiner of crude oil, producer of gasoline blending components, and developer and licensor of technologies for production of polymers worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Olefins and Polyolefins—Americas; Olefins and Polyolefins—Europe, Asia, International; Intermediates and Derivatives; Refining; and Technology. It produces and markets olefins, including ethylene, propylene, and butadiene; polyethylene products, which consist of high density polyethylene, low density polyethylene, and linear low density polyethylene; polyolefins, such as polyethylene and polypropylene (PP); and PP homopolymers, copolymers, and compounds. The company also produces and sells propylene oxide and its derivatives; oxyfuels and related products; and intermediate chemicals, such as styrene monomers, methanol products, glacial acetic acids, vinyl acetate monomers, and ethylene oxides and derivatives. In addition, it refines crude oil into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel; develops and licenses chemical and polyolefin process technologies; and manufactures and sells polyolefin catalysts, as well as purchases and sells ethylene. The company also exports its products. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. was founded in 2005 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.