Head to Head Comparison: BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO) versus Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI)

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

Volatility & Risk

Standard Lithium has a beta of 1.67, indicating that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioLargo has a beta of 0.21, indicating that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Standard Lithium and BioLargo, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Standard Lithium	0	0	2	0	3.00
BioLargo	0	0	0	0	0.00

Standard Lithium currently has a consensus target price of $3.95, indicating a potential upside of 142.33%. Given Standard Lithium’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Standard Lithium is more favorable than BioLargo.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

16.8% of Standard Lithium shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of BioLargo shares are held by institutional investors. 20.3% of BioLargo shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Standard Lithium and BioLargo’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%
BioLargo	-11.45%	-39.90%	-22.06%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Standard Lithium and BioLargo”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	$0.59	2.76
BioLargo	$12.23 million	6.72	-$3.50 million	($0.01)	-27.27

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

Summary

Standard Lithium beats BioLargo on 11 of the 13 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 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.