Financial Contrast: U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) & American Battery Technology (NASDAQ:ABAT)

U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) and American Battery Technology (NASDAQ:ABAT) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for U.S. Silica and American Battery Technology, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U.S. Silica	0	0	0	0	N/A
American Battery Technology	0	0	1	0	3.00

U.S. Silica presently has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.30%. American Battery Technology has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 341.18%. Given American Battery Technology’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe American Battery Technology is more favorable than U.S. Silica.

Profitability

This table compares U.S. Silica and American Battery Technology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U.S. Silica	9.47%	18.56%	7.15%
American Battery Technology	N/A	-36.74%	-29.04%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares U.S. Silica and American Battery Technology’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U.S. Silica	$1.55 billion	0.64	$146.93 million	$1.87	6.78
American Battery Technology	N/A	N/A	-$9.29 million	N/A	N/A

U.S. Silica has higher revenue and earnings than American Battery Technology.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.8% of U.S. Silica shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.9% of American Battery Technology shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of U.S. Silica shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of American Battery Technology shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

U.S. Silica beats American Battery Technology on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About U.S. Silica

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. produces and sells commercial silica in the United States. It operates through two segments: Oil & Gas Proppants and Industrial & Specialty Products. The company offers whole grain commercial silica products to be used as frac for oil and natural gas recovery, as well as sells its whole grain silica products for the manufacturing of glass products. It also provides various grades of whole-grain round silica to the foundry industry; ground silica and industrial minerals products used for various products; and engineered performance materials made from diatomaceous earth (DE), clay, and perlite. In addition, the company offers transportation, equipment rental, and contract labor services. It serves oilfield services companies, and exploration and production companies that are engaged in hydraulic fracturing, building and construction products, chemicals, fillers and extenders, filtration, glass, sports, recreation, and industrial and specialty products end markets. The company was formerly known as GGC USS Holdings Inc. and changed its name to U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. in July 2011. U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Katy, Texas.

About American Battery Technology

American Battery Technology Company operates as a battery materials company. The company explores for resources of battery metals, such as such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese; and develops and commercializes technologies for the extraction of battery metals, as well as commercializes integrated process for the recycling of lithium-ion batteries. The company was formerly known as American Battery Metals Corporation. American Battery Technology Company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.