Head to Head Contrast: Olin (NYSE:OLN) and BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO)

BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO) and Olin (NYSE:OLN) are both construction companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Risk and Volatility

BioLargo has a beta of 0.24, meaning that its stock price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Olin has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for BioLargo and Olin, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BioLargo	0	0	0	0	0.00
Olin	1	10	5	0	2.25

Olin has a consensus price target of $40.44, suggesting a potential upside of 50.36%. Given Olin’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Olin is more favorable than BioLargo.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BioLargo and Olin”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BioLargo	$12.23 million	6.52	-$3.50 million	($0.01)	-26.47
Olin	$6.54 billion	0.48	$108.60 million	$0.90	29.88

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

Profitability

This table compares BioLargo and Olin’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BioLargo	-11.45%	-39.90%	-22.06%
Olin	1.66%	5.10%	1.43%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of BioLargo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of Olin shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.3% of BioLargo shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Olin shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Olin beats BioLargo on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BioLargo

BioLargo, Inc. invents, develops, and commercializes various platform technologies. Its technologies solve challenging environmental problems comprising per – and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) water contamination, advanced water and wastewater treatment, industrial odor and volatile organic compounds control, air quality control, infection control, and myriad environmental remediation. The company provides full-service environmental engineering services. BioLargo, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Westminster, California.

About Olin

Olin Corporation manufactures and distributes chemical products in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls; Epoxy; and Winchester. The Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls segment offers chlorine and caustic soda, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride monomers, methyl chloride, methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, perchloroethylene, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen, bleach products, potassium hydroxide, and chlorinated organics intermediates and solvents. The Epoxy segment provides Allylics, such as allyl chloride, epichlorohydrin, and glycerin; aromatics, including acetone, bisphenol, cumene, and phenol; liquid and solid epoxy resins; and converted epoxy resins and additives. The Winchester segment offers sporting ammunition products, including shotshells, small caliber centerfire, and rimfire ammunition products for hunters and recreational shooters, and law enforcement agencies; small caliber military ammunition products for use in infantry and mounted weapons; and industrial products comprising gauge loads and powder-actuated tool loads for maintenance applications in power and concrete industries, and powder-actuated tools in construction industry. The company markets its products through its sales force, as well as directly to various industrial customers, mass merchants, retailers, wholesalers, gun clubs, other distributors, and the U.S. Government and its prime contractors. Olin Corporation was incorporated in 1892 and is based in Clayton, Missouri.