Contrasting Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ:ELBM) & CBAK Energy Technology (NASDAQ:CBAT)

Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ:ELBM) and CBAK Energy Technology (NASDAQ:CBAT) 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 analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Electra Battery Materials and CBAK Energy Technology, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Electra Battery Materials	0	0	2	0	3.00
CBAK Energy Technology	0	0	0	0	N/A

Electra Battery Materials currently has a consensus target price of $1.93, indicating a potential upside of 326.92%. Given Electra Battery Materials’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Electra Battery Materials is more favorable than CBAK Energy Technology.

Volatility and Risk

Electra Battery Materials has a beta of 2.57, indicating that its share price is 157% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CBAK Energy Technology has a beta of 1.82, indicating that its share price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Electra Battery Materials	N/A	-7.87%	-4.79%
CBAK Energy Technology	-0.50%	-0.86%	-0.38%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

32.9% of Electra Battery Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of CBAK Energy Technology shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.7% of Electra Battery Materials shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of CBAK Energy Technology shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Electra Battery Materials and CBAK Energy Technology’s gross 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	($0.38)	-1.19
CBAK Energy Technology	$204.44 million	0.49	-$2.45 million	($0.04)	-27.75

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

Summary

Electra Battery Materials beats CBAK Energy Technology on 8 of the 12 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 CBAK Energy Technology

CBAK Energy Technology, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufacture, commercialization, and distribution of lithium ion high power rechargeable batteries in Mainland China, the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, CBAK and Hitrans. Its lithium batteries are used in various applications, including electric vehicles, such as electric cars, electric buses, and hybrid electric cars and buses; light electric vehicles, such as electric bicycles, electric motors, electric tricycles, and smaller-sized electric cars; and electric tools, energy storage, uninterruptible power supply, and other high power applications, as well as cordless power tools. The company also develops and manufactures NCM precursor and cathode materials. The company was formerly known as China BAK Battery, Inc. and changed its name to CBAK Energy Technology, Inc. in January 2017. CBAK Energy Technology, Inc. is based in Dalian, China.