Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI – Get Free Report) and Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN – Get Free Report) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
16.8% of Standard Lithium shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.7% of Hawkins shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Standard Lithium shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Hawkins shares are held 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.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Standard Lithium and Hawkins, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Standard Lithium | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Hawkins | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Standard Lithium and Hawkins”s gross 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 | ($0.23) | -8.52 |
| Hawkins | $923.92 million | 3.02 | $75.36 million | $3.59 | 36.98 |
Standard Lithium has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hawkins. Standard Lithium is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hawkins, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Standard Lithium and Hawkins’ 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% |
| Hawkins | 8.75% | 20.16% | 12.53% |
Volatility and Risk
Standard Lithium has a beta of 1.89, meaning that its stock price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hawkins has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
Standard Lithium pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 102.0%. Hawkins pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Standard Lithium pays out -869.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hawkins pays out 20.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Hawkins has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years. Standard Lithium is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Summary
Hawkins beats Standard Lithium on 9 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 Hawkins
Hawkins, Inc. operates as a specialty chemical and ingredients company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Water Treatment, and Health and Nutrition. The Industrial segment offers industrial chemicals, products, and services to agriculture, chemical processing, electronics, energy, food, pharmaceutical, and plating industries. This segment manufactures sodium hypochlorite and agricultural products, as well as various food-grade and pharmaceutical products, such as liquid phosphates, lactates, other blended products, and agricultural products; and receives, stores, and distributes various chemicals comprising liquid caustic soda, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, urea, phosphoric acid, aqua ammonia, and potassium hydroxide. It also repackages water treatment chemicals and bulk industrial chemicals; and performs custom blending of chemicals. The Water Treatment segment provides chemicals, products, equipment, services, and solutions for potable water, municipal and industrial wastewater, industrial process water, non-residential swimming pool water, and agriculture water. The Health and Nutrition segment offers ingredient distribution, processing, and formulation solutions to manufacturers of nutraceutical, functional food and beverage, personal care, dietary supplement and other nutritional food, and health and wellness products. Its products portfolio includes minerals, vitamins and amino acids, excipients, joint products, botanicals and herbs, sweeteners, and enzymes. Hawkins, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Roseville, Minnesota.
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