Critical Review: Standard Lithium (SLI) vs. The Competition

Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI) is one of 34 public companies in the “Chemicals & allied products” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Standard Lithium to related businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Standard Lithium and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Standard Lithium	N/A	-20.35%	-18.76%
Standard Lithium Competitors	-568.74%	5.73%	-0.15%

Dividends

Standard Lithium pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 127.4%. Standard Lithium pays out -869.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Chemicals & allied products” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.8% and pay out 42.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Standard Lithium is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

Standard Lithium has a beta of 1.86, suggesting that its stock price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Standard Lithium’s competitors have a beta of 1.78, suggesting that their average stock price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Standard Lithium and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Standard Lithium	N/A	-$31.35 million	-6.83
Standard Lithium Competitors	$6.64 billion	$206.77 million	66.82

Standard Lithium’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Standard Lithium. Standard Lithium is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

16.8% of Standard Lithium shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.4% of shares of all “Chemicals & allied products” companies are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Standard Lithium shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.1% of shares of all “Chemicals & allied products” companies are held by company 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 for Standard Lithium and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Standard Lithium	0	0	1	0	3.00
Standard Lithium Competitors	139	1276	1591	46	2.51

Standard Lithium currently has a consensus price target of $3.50, indicating a potential upside of 126.54%. As a group, “Chemicals & allied products” companies have a potential upside of 5.79%. Given Standard Lithium’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Standard Lithium is more favorable than its competitors.

Summary

Standard Lithium competitors beat Standard Lithium on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

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.