Critical Comparison: FMC (NYSE:FMC) and Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI)

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

Risk and Volatility

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

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%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Standard Lithium and FMC”s revenue, earnings per share 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	1.50	$1.32 billion	$11.62	4.32

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 & 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 company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of FMC shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Standard Lithium pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 137.0%. FMC pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Standard Lithium pays out 339.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. FMC pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Standard Lithium and FMC, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	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 currently has a consensus target price of $3.95, indicating a potential upside of 170.55%. FMC has a consensus target price of $65.69, indicating a potential upside of 30.99%. Given Standard Lithium’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Standard Lithium is more favorable than FMC.

Summary

FMC beats Standard Lithium on 11 of the 16 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.