Head-To-Head Review: Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ:ELBM) versus Stem (NYSE:STEM)

Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ:ELBM) and Stem (NYSE:STEM) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Electra Battery Materials and Stem, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Electra Battery Materials	0	0	1	1	3.50
Stem	0	8	1	0	2.11

Electra Battery Materials currently has a consensus target price of $2.40, suggesting a potential upside of 133.01%. Stem has a consensus target price of $1.11, suggesting a potential upside of 105.00%. Given Electra Battery Materials’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Electra Battery Materials is more favorable than Stem.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Electra Battery Materials and Stem”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Electra Battery Materials	N/A	N/A	-$47.90 million	($1.48)	-0.70
Stem	$151.63 million	0.59	-$140.41 million	($4.95)	-0.11

Electra Battery Materials has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Stem. Electra Battery Materials is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stem, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

32.9% of Electra Battery Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.6% of Stem shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.7% of Electra Battery Materials shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of Stem shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Electra Battery Materials and Stem’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Electra Battery Materials	N/A	-39.33%	-19.52%
Stem	-328.11%	-275.79%	-17.98%

Risk & Volatility

Electra Battery Materials has a beta of 2.55, indicating that its stock price is 155% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stem has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Electra Battery Materials beats Stem on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Electra Battery Materials

Electra Battery Materials Corporation engages in the acquisition and exploration of resource properties in the United States and Canada. It primarily explores for cobalt and silver deposits. The company's flagship project is the Iron Creek cobalt-copper project located in Lemhi County, Idaho. It also operates a cobalt refinery for producing battery materials for the electric vehicle supply chain. The company was formerly known as First Cobalt Corp. and changed its name to Electra Battery Materials Corporation in December 2021. Electra Battery Materials Corporation was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About Stem

Stem, Inc. operates as a digitally connected, intelligent, and renewable energy storage network provider worldwide. The company offers energy storage hardware sourced from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs); edge hardware to aid in the collection of site data and real-time operation and control of the site and other optional equipment; and Athena, a software platform, which offers battery hardware and software-enabled services to operate the energy storage systems. It serves commercial and industrial enterprises, independent power producers, renewable project developers, and utilities and grid operators. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.