Critical Review: Cooper-Standard (NYSE:CPS) & Solid Power (NASDAQ:SLDP)

Cooper-Standard (NYSE:CPS) and Solid Power (NASDAQ:SLDP) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Cooper-Standard has a beta of 1.95, suggesting that its share price is 95% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Solid Power has a beta of 1.87, suggesting that its share price is 87% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Cooper-Standard and Solid Power, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cooper-Standard	1	2	1	0	2.00
Solid Power	1	0	1	0	2.00

Cooper-Standard currently has a consensus price target of $26.50, indicating a potential downside of 11.75%. Solid Power has a consensus price target of $7.00, indicating a potential upside of 35.40%. Given Solid Power’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Solid Power is more favorable than Cooper-Standard.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cooper-Standard and Solid Power”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cooper-Standard	$2.73 billion	0.19	-$78.75 million	$1.82	16.50
Solid Power	$20.14 million	49.04	-$96.52 million	($0.53)	-9.75

Cooper-Standard has higher revenue and earnings than Solid Power. Solid Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cooper-Standard, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

69.1% of Cooper-Standard shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.7% of Solid Power shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.8% of Cooper-Standard shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.2% of Solid Power shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Cooper-Standard and Solid Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cooper-Standard	1.20%	N/A	-0.15%
Solid Power	-429.55%	-24.88%	-23.07%

Summary

Cooper-Standard beats Solid Power on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cooper-Standard

Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc., through its subsidiary, Cooper-Standard Automotive Inc., manufactures and sells sealing, fuel and brake delivery, and fluid transfer systems in the United States, Mexico, China, Poland, Canada, Germany, France, and internationally. The company offers sealing systems, including dynamic seals, static seals, encapsulated glasses, textured surfaces with cloth appearance, obstacle detection sensor systems, FlushSeal systems, variable extrusions, specialty sealing products, stainless steel trims, and frameless systems. It also provides fuel and brake delivery systems comprising chassis and tank fuel lines and bundles, metallic brake lines and bundles, quick connects, low oligomer multi-layer convoluted tubes, brake jounce lines, direct injection and port fuel rails, MagAlloy break tube coating, and ArmorTube brake tube coating. In addition, the company offers fluid transfer systems, such as heater/coolant hoses, turbo charger hoses, charged air cooler ducts/assemblies, diesel particulate filter lines, secondary air hoses, degas tanks and deaerators, brake and clutch hoses, air intake and discharge systems, transmission oil cooling hoses, high temperature MLTs, and multilayer tubing for glycol thermal management. Its products are primarily used in passenger vehicles and light trucks that are manufactured by automotive original equipment manufacturers and replacement markets. Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Northville, Michigan.

About Solid Power

Solid Power, Inc. develops solid state battery technologies for the electric vehicles (EV) and other markets in the United States. The company sells its sulfide-based solid electrolyte; and licenses its solid-state cell designs and manufacturing processes. It also produces and sells 0.2, 2, 20 ampere-hour (Ah), and EV cells. Solid Power, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Louisville, Colorado.