Contrasting FMC (NYSE:FMC) and BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO)

FMC (NYSE:FMC) and BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares FMC and BioLargo”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FMC	$4.08 billion	1.94	$1.32 billion	$8.96	7.09
BioLargo	$12.23 million	5.97	-$3.50 million	($0.03)	-8.10

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for FMC and BioLargo, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FMC	1	10	5	1	2.35
BioLargo	0	0	0	0	N/A

FMC presently has a consensus price target of $68.63, suggesting a potential upside of 8.05%. Given FMC’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe FMC is more favorable than BioLargo.

Risk and Volatility

FMC has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioLargo has a beta of 0.2, meaning that its stock price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.9% of FMC shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of BioLargo shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of FMC shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.3% of BioLargo shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FMC	33.97%	7.52%	2.67%
BioLargo	-16.53%	-58.35%	-32.12%

Summary

FMC beats BioLargo on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FMC

FMC Corporation, an agricultural sciences company, provides crop protection, plant health, and professional pest and turf management products. It develops, markets, and sells crop protection chemicals that includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides; and biologicals, crop nutrition, and seed treatment products, which are used in agriculture to enhance crop yield and quality by controlling a range of insects, weeds, and diseases, as well as in non-agricultural markets for pest control. The company markets its products through its own sales organization and through alliance partners, independent distributors, and sales representatives. It operates in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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.