Head to Head Contrast: Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI) vs. Huntsman (NYSE:HUN)

Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI) and Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Standard Lithium and Huntsman, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Standard Lithium	0	0	1	0	3.00
Huntsman	1	4	4	0	2.33

Standard Lithium presently has a consensus target price of $3.50, indicating a potential upside of 44.63%. Huntsman has a consensus target price of $25.89, indicating a potential upside of 8.16%. Given Standard Lithium’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Standard Lithium is more favorable than Huntsman.

Volatility and Risk

Standard Lithium has a beta of 1.89, indicating that its stock price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Huntsman has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

16.8% of Standard Lithium shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Huntsman shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of Standard Lithium shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Huntsman shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Standard Lithium and Huntsman”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	$0.58	4.17
Huntsman	$5.95 billion	0.70	$101.00 million	($0.52)	-46.03

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Standard Lithium	N/A	-15.67%	-14.05%
Huntsman	-1.44%	0.26%	0.12%

Summary

Standard Lithium beats Huntsman on 7 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 Huntsman

Huntsman Corporation manufactures and sells diversified organic chemical products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Polyurethanes, Performance Products, and Advanced Materials. The Polyurethanes segment offers polyurethane chemicals, including methyl diphenyl diisocyanate, polyether and polyester polyols, and thermoplastic polyurethane; and aniline, benzene, nitrobenzene and other co-products. The Performance Products segment manufactures amines, such as polyetheramines, ethyleneamines, DGA Agent, JEFFCAT catalysts, and E-GRADE specialty amines and carbonates; and maleic anhydrides. The Advanced Materials segment offers epoxy, phenoxy, acrylic, polyurethane, and acrylonitrile-butadiene-based polymer formulations; and thermoset resins, curing and toughening agents, and carbon nanomaterials. The company provides pre-and post-sales technical service support to customers. Its products are used in a range of applications, including adhesives, aerospace, automotive, construction products, durable and non-durable consumer products, electronics, insulation, packaging, coatings and construction, power generation, and refining, as well as serves the elastomers, insulation, footwear, furniture, industrial, oil and gas, liquid natural gas transport, printed circuit boards, consumer, appliances, electrical power transmission and distribution, recreational sports equipment, and medical appliances markets. The company sells its products through a network of distributors and agents. Huntsman Corporation was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.