Financial Survey: Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI) & FMC (NYSE:FMC)

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

Profitability

This table compares Standard Lithium and FMC’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%
FMC	34.93%	7.68%	2.86%

Risk and Volatility

Standard Lithium has a beta of 1.63, meaning that its share price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FMC has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Standard Lithium and FMC, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Standard Lithium	0	0	2	0	3.00
FMC	1	9	4	1	2.33

Standard Lithium presently has a consensus price target of $3.95, indicating a potential upside of 170.55%. FMC has a consensus price target of $68.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.05%. Given Standard Lithium’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Standard Lithium is more favorable than FMC.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Standard Lithium and FMC”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	2.47
FMC	$4.17 billion	1.55	$1.32 billion	$11.62	4.47

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

16.8% of Standard Lithium shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.9% of FMC shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of Standard Lithium shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of FMC shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

FMC beats Standard Lithium on 10 of the 14 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 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.