Reviewing Perimeter Solutions (NYSE:PRM) and Orion (NYSE:OEC)

Perimeter Solutions (NYSE:PRM) and Orion (NYSE:OEC) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Perimeter Solutions and Orion, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Perimeter Solutions	1	0	2	1	2.75
Orion	3	2	0	0	1.40

Perimeter Solutions presently has a consensus price target of $32.50, suggesting a potential upside of 5.37%. Orion has a consensus price target of $5.75, suggesting a potential downside of 23.97%. Given Perimeter Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Perimeter Solutions is more favorable than Orion.

Profitability

This table compares Perimeter Solutions and Orion’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Perimeter Solutions	-31.61%	17.82%	8.11%
Orion	-3.88%	6.52%	1.42%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.9% of Perimeter Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.3% of Orion shares are held by institutional investors. 10.0% of Perimeter Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Orion shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Perimeter Solutions and Orion”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Perimeter Solutions	$652.86 million	7.71	-$206.37 million	($1.42)	-21.72
Orion	$1.81 billion	0.24	-$70.10 million	($1.26)	-6.00

Orion has higher revenue and earnings than Perimeter Solutions. Perimeter Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Orion, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Perimeter Solutions has a beta of 1.9, indicating that its stock price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orion has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Perimeter Solutions beats Orion on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Perimeter Solutions

Perimeter Solutions, SA manufactures and supplies firefighting products and lubricant additives in the United States, Germany, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Fire Safety and Specialty Products. The Fire Safety segment provides fire retardants and firefighting foams, as well as specialized equipment and services for federal, state, provincial, local/municipal, and commercial customers. The Specialty Products segment produces and sells Phosphorus Pentasulfide, which is primarily used in the preparation of lubricant additives, including a family of compounds called Zinc Dialkyldithiophosphates. The company offers its products under the PHOS-CHEK, FIRE-TROL, AUXQUIMIA, and SOLBERG brands. Perimeter Solutions, SA was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Clayton, Missouri.

About Orion

Orion S.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of carbon black products. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and conductive carbon black grades for batteries, polymers, and coatings. It also provides rubber carbon black products for applications in mechanical rubber goods, as well as in tires under the ECORAX brand name; and acetylene-based conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries and other applications. It operates in the United States, Brazil, rest of the Americas, Germany, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Turkey, France, Rest of EMEA, China, the Republic of Korea, and rest of Asia. The company was formerly known as Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. and changed its name to Orion S.A. in June 2023. Orion S.A. was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Senningerberg, Luxembourg.