Contrasting Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI) and Ashland (NYSE:ASH)

Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI) and Ashland (NYSE:ASH) 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, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Standard Lithium has a beta of 1.63, suggesting that its share price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ashland has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Standard Lithium and Ashland, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Standard Lithium	0	0	2	0	3.00
Ashland	0	2	5	0	2.71

Standard Lithium currently has a consensus target price of $3.95, suggesting a potential upside of 146.88%. Ashland has a consensus target price of $102.00, suggesting a potential upside of 44.93%. Given Standard Lithium’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Standard Lithium is more favorable than Ashland.

Profitability

This table compares Standard Lithium and Ashland’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%
Ashland	7.95%	7.43%	3.85%

Dividends

Standard Lithium pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 125.0%. Ashland pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. 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. Ashland pays out 48.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ashland has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

16.8% of Standard Lithium shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of Ashland shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of Standard Lithium shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Ashland shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Standard Lithium and Ashland”s top-line 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	2.71
Ashland	$2.11 billion	1.57	$169.00 million	$3.35	21.01

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

Summary

Ashland 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 Ashland

Ashland Inc. provides additives and specialty ingredients in the North and Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates through Life Sciences, Personal Care, Specialty Additives, and Intermediates segments. The Life Sciences segment offers pharmaceutical solutions, including controlled release polymers, disintegrants, tablet coatings, thickeners, solubilizers, and tablet binders; nutrition solutions, such as thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and additives; and nutraceutical solutions comprising products for weight management, joint comfort, stomach and intestinal health, sports nutrition, and general wellness, as well as custom formulation, toll processing, and particle engineering solutions. Its Personal Care segment provides a range of nature-based, biodegradable, and performance ingredients; solutions for toothpastes, mouth washes and rinses, denture cleaning, and care for teeth; and household supplies nature-derived rheology ingredients, biodegradable surface wetting agents, performance encapsulates, and specialty polymers. The Specialty Additives segment offers rheology modifiers, foam control agents, surfactants and wetting agents, pH neutralizers, advanced ceramics used in catalytic converters, environmental filters, ingredients for the manufacturing of ceramic capacitors, plasma display panels and solar cells, ingredients for textile printing, thermoplastic metals, and alloys for welding. Its Intermediates segment produces 1,4 butanediol and related derivatives, including n-methylpyrrolidone. It offers its products to customers in a range of consumer and industrial markets, such as architectural coatings, construction, energy, food and beverage, nutraceuticals, personal care, and pharmaceutical. The company was formerly known as Ashland Global Holdings Inc. and changed its name to Ashland Inc. in August 2022. Ashland Inc. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.