Reviewing Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY) & Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI)

Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY) and Standard Lithium (NYSE:SLI) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Risk & Volatility

Basf has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Standard Lithium has a beta of 1.67, indicating that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Basf and Standard Lithium’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Basf	0.78%	6.63%	3.06%
Standard Lithium	N/A	-11.52%	-10.25%

Analyst Recommendations

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Basf	1	3	3	1	2.50
Standard Lithium	0	0	2	0	3.00

Standard Lithium has a consensus price target of $3.95, suggesting a potential upside of 165.10%. Given Standard Lithium’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Standard Lithium is more favorable than Basf.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Basf and Standard Lithium”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Basf	$74.57 billion	0.55	$243.52 million	$0.16	71.69
Standard Lithium	N/A	N/A	$108.82 million	$0.59	2.53

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Basf shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.8% of Standard Lithium shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Standard Lithium shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Basf pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Standard Lithium pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 134.2%. Basf pays out 400.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. 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. Standard Lithium is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

About Basf

BASF SE operates as a chemical company worldwide. It operates through six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care, and Agricultural Solutions. The Chemicals segment provides petrochemicals and intermediates. The Materials segment offers advanced materials and their precursors for applications and systems comprising isocyanates, polyamides, and inorganic basic products, as well as specialties for plastics and plastics processing industries. The Industrial Solutions segment develops and markets ingredients and additives for industrial applications, such as polymer dispersions, resins, additives, electronic materials, and antioxidants for automotive, plastics, paints and coatings, electronics, and energy and resource industries. The Surface Technologies segment provides automotive OEM and refinish coatings, surface treatment, catalysts, battery materials, and precious and base metal services for the automotive and chemical sectors. The Nutrition & Care segment offers ingredients for consumer goods in the areas of nutrition, home, personal care, and technical applications; and serves the food and feed producers, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, detergents, cleaners, and crop protection industries, as well as fast-moving consumer goods sector. The Agricultural Solutions segment provides seeds and seed treatment products; fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and biological crop protection products; and digital farming solutions. The company engages in engineering and other; rental and leasing; and commodity trading activities. BASF SE was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany.

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.