Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ:ELBM) and Spectrum Brands (NYSE:SPB) Critical Analysis

Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ:ELBM) and Spectrum Brands (NYSE:SPB) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Electra Battery Materials has a beta of 2.93, indicating that its stock price is 193% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Spectrum Brands has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.5% of Electra Battery Materials shares are held by institutional investors. 22.7% of Electra Battery Materials shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Spectrum Brands shares are held by company 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Electra Battery Materials	N/A	-6.94%	-4.18%
Spectrum Brands	61.47%	1.99%	0.52%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Electra Battery Materials and Spectrum Brands, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Electra Battery Materials	0	0	2	0	3.00
Spectrum Brands	0	2	5	0	2.71

Electra Battery Materials currently has a consensus target price of $2.38, indicating a potential upside of 240.75%. Spectrum Brands has a consensus target price of $83.43, indicating a potential upside of 2.09%. Given Electra Battery Materials’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Electra Battery Materials is more favorable than Spectrum Brands.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Electra Battery Materials and Spectrum Brands’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Electra Battery Materials	N/A	N/A	$9.65 million	($0.41)	-1.70
Spectrum Brands	$3.13 billion	0.93	$72.50 million	$44.61	1.83

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

Summary

Spectrum Brands beats Electra Battery Materials on 8 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 Spectrum Brands

Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. operates as a branded consumer products company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Home and Personal Care; Global Pet Care; and Home and Garden. The Home and Personal Care segment provides home appliances under the Black & Decker, Russell Hobbs, George Foreman, Toastmaster, Juiceman, Farberware, and Breadman brands; and personal care products under the Remington and LumaBella brands. The Global Pet Care segment provides rawhide chewing, dog and cat clean-up and food, training, health and grooming, small animal food and care, and rawhide-free products under the 8IN1 (8-in-1), Dingo, Nature's Miracle, Wild Harvest, Littermaid, Jungle, Excel, FURminator, IAMS, Eukanuba, Healthy-Hide, DreamBone, SmartBones, ProSense, Perfect Coat, eCOTRITION, Birdola, Good Boy, Meowee!, Wildbird, and Wafcol brands. This segment also offers aquarium kits, stand-alone tanks, and aquatics equipment and consumables under the Tetra, Marineland, Whisper, Instant Ocean, GloFish, OmegaOne, and OmegaSea brands. The Home and Garden segment provides outdoor insect and weed control solutions, and animal repellents under the Spectracide, Garden Safe, Liquid Fence, and EcoLogic brands; household pest control solutions under the Hot Shot, Black Flag, Real-Kill, Ultra Kill, The Ant Trap, and Rid-A-Bug brand names; household surface cleaning, maintenance, and restoration products, including bottled liquids, mops, wipes, and markers under the Rejuvenate brand name; and personal-use pesticides and insect repellent products under the Cutter and Repel brands. The company sells its products through retailers, e-commerce and online retailers, wholesalers, and distributors. Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Middleton, Wisconsin.