SPI Energy (NASDAQ:SPI) and Beam Global (NASDAQ:BEEM) Financial Contrast

SPI Energy (NASDAQ:SPI) and Beam Global (NASDAQ:BEEM) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares SPI Energy and Beam Global’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SPI Energy	$177.52 million	0.09	-$33.42 million	($0.88)	-0.59
Beam Global	$67.35 million	1.37	-$16.06 million	($1.47)	-4.33

Beam Global has lower revenue, but higher earnings than SPI Energy. Beam Global is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SPI Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.7% of SPI Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.6% of Beam Global shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.6% of SPI Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Beam Global shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares SPI Energy and Beam Global’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SPI Energy	-11.77%	-167.64%	-9.56%
Beam Global	-23.84%	-36.71%	-25.88%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for SPI Energy and Beam Global, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SPI Energy	0	0	0	0	N/A
Beam Global	0	1	3	0	2.75

Beam Global has a consensus price target of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 183.02%. Given Beam Global’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Beam Global is more favorable than SPI Energy.

Volatility & Risk

SPI Energy has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Beam Global has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Beam Global beats SPI Energy on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SPI Energy

SPI Energy Co., Ltd. provides photovoltaic and electric vehicle (EV) solutions for business, residential, government, and utility customers and investors in Australia, Japan, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Greece. The company offers engineering, procurement, and construction services to independent power developers and producers, and commercial and industrial companies. It also develops, owns, and operates solar projects that sell electricity to power companies and other electricity off-takers, including government-owned utility companies. In addition, the company sells self-assembled solar modules, forklifts, pre-development solar projects, component and charging stations, as well as offers shipping, delivery, engineering, and maintenance services. As of April, 2022, it owned and operated 17.51 megawatts of solar projects. The company is headquartered in Sacramento, California.

About Beam Global

Beam Global, a clean-technology innovation company, engages in the design, development, engineering, manufacture, and sale of renewably energized infrastructure products and battery solutions. Its product portfolio includes EV ARC (electric vehicle autonomous renewable charger), an infrastructure product that uses integrated solar power and battery storage to provide a mounting asset and a source of power for factory installed electric vehicle charging stations; Solar Tree DCFC, an off-grid, renewably energized, and single-column mounted smart generation and energy storage system to provide a 150kW DC fast charge to one or more electric vehicles, such as electric buses, heavy-duty vehicles, agricultural equipment, public transportation, and electric vehicles used in the construction industry; and EV ARC DCFC, a DC fast charging system for charging EVs. The company is also involved in the development of EV-Standard, a lamp standard, EV charging, and emergency power product that uses an existing streetlamp's foundation and a combination of solar, wind, grid connection, and onboard energy storage to provide curbside charging; and UAV ARC, an off-grid and renewably energized product and network used to charge aerial drone (UAV) fleets. It offers its solutions for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, energy storage, energy security, disaster preparedness, street lighting, telecommunications, energy infrastructure, and outdoor media and branding industries. The company was formerly known as Envision Solar International, Inc. and changed its name to Beam Global in September 2020. Beam Global was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.