Critical Comparison: Perimeter Solutions (NYSE:PRM) vs. BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO)

Perimeter Solutions (NYSE:PRM) and BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Perimeter Solutions and BioLargo, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Perimeter Solutions	0	1	1	0	2.50
BioLargo	0	0	0	0	N/A

Perimeter Solutions presently has a consensus target price of $14.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.29%. Given Perimeter Solutions’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Perimeter Solutions is more favorable than BioLargo.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.9% of Perimeter Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of BioLargo shares are held by institutional investors. 8.7% of Perimeter Solutions shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 20.3% of BioLargo shares are held by 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 Perimeter Solutions and BioLargo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Perimeter Solutions	-14.12%	2.94%	1.41%
BioLargo	-16.53%	-58.35%	-32.12%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Perimeter Solutions and BioLargo”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Perimeter Solutions	$388.43 million	5.01	$67.49 million	($0.23)	-58.22
BioLargo	$12.23 million	5.76	-$3.50 million	($0.03)	-7.81

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

Volatility & Risk

Perimeter Solutions has a beta of 2, suggesting that its share price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioLargo has a beta of 0.2, suggesting that its share price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Perimeter Solutions beats BioLargo on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Perimeter Solutions

Perimeter Solutions, SA manufactures and supplies firefighting products and lubricant additives in the United States, Germany, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Fire Safety and Specialty Products. The Fire Safety segment provides fire retardants and firefighting foams, as well as specialized equipment and services for federal, state, provincial, local/municipal, and commercial customers. The Specialty Products segment produces and sells Phosphorus Pentasulfide, which is primarily used in the preparation of lubricant additives, including a family of compounds called Zinc Dialkyldithiophosphates. The company offers its products under the PHOS-CHEK, FIRE-TROL, AUXQUIMIA, and SOLBERG brands. Perimeter Solutions, SA was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Clayton, Missouri.

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.