Sierra Metals (SMT) Competitors

Standard Lithium (CVE:SLI) and Sierra Metals (TSE:SMT) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, media sentiment and dividends.

Is SLI or SMT more profitable?

Standard Lithium has a net margin of 0.00% compared to Sierra Metals' net margin of -1.86%. Standard Lithium's return on equity of 68.27% beat Sierra Metals' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Standard Lithium	N/A	68.27%	-10.09%
Sierra Metals	-1.86%	-5.83%	1.38%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SLI or SMT?

10.0% of Standard Lithium shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.4% of Sierra Metals shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.2% of Standard Lithium shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Sierra Metals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, SLI or SMT?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Standard Lithium	N/A	N/A	C$152.14M	C$0.84	4.34
Sierra Metals	C$214.24M	0.80	-C$3.98M	-C$0.04	-30.30

Does the media favor SLI or SMT?

In the previous week, Standard Lithium had 6 more articles in the media than Sierra Metals. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Standard Lithium and 0 mentions for Sierra Metals. Standard Lithium's average media sentiment score of 0.50 beat Sierra Metals' score of 0.00 indicating that Standard Lithium is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Standard Lithium	Neutral
Sierra Metals	Neutral

Which has more risk and volatility, SLI or SMT?

Standard Lithium has a beta of 1.93, indicating that its share price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sierra Metals has a beta of 2.12, indicating that its share price is 112% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Standard Lithium beats Sierra Metals on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.