Critical Contrast: Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI) versus BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO)

Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI) and BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Standard Lithium has a beta of 1.67, meaning that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioLargo has a beta of 0.21, meaning that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

16.8% of Standard Lithium shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of BioLargo shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.3% of BioLargo shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Standard Lithium and BioLargo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Standard Lithium	N/A	-11.52%	-10.25%
BioLargo	-11.45%	-39.90%	-22.06%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Standard Lithium and BioLargo, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Standard Lithium	0	0	2	0	3.00
BioLargo	0	0	0	0	0.00

Standard Lithium presently has a consensus price target of $3.95, suggesting a potential upside of 135.12%. Given Standard Lithium’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Standard Lithium is more favorable than BioLargo.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Standard Lithium and BioLargo”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Standard Lithium	N/A	N/A	$108.82 million	$0.59	2.85
BioLargo	$12.23 million	7.08	-$3.50 million	($0.01)	-28.76

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

Summary

Standard Lithium beats BioLargo on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Standard Lithium

Standard Lithium Ltd. explores for, develops, and processes lithium brine properties in the United States. Its flagship project is the Lanxess project with area of approximately 150,000 acres located in southern Arkansas. The company was formerly known as Patriot Petroleum Corp. and changed its name to Standard Lithium Ltd. in December 2016. Standard Lithium Ltd. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About BioLargo

BioLargo, Inc. invents, develops, and commercializes various platform technologies. Its technologies solve challenging environmental problems comprising per – and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) water contamination, advanced water and wastewater treatment, industrial odor and volatile organic compounds control, air quality control, infection control, and myriad environmental remediation. The company provides full-service environmental engineering services. BioLargo, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Westminster, California.