Reviewing Tantech (NASDAQ:TANH) & Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

Tantech (NASDAQ:TANH) and Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Tantech has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albemarle has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Tantech and Albemarle’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tantech	N/A	N/A	N/A
Albemarle	-5.00%	5.22%	2.51%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Tantech and Albemarle”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tantech	$42.94 million	0.06	-$3.24 million	N/A	N/A
Albemarle	$5.14 billion	4.72	-$510.63 million	($3.41)	-60.31

Tantech has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Albemarle.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

6.0% of Tantech shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Albemarle shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Tantech shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Albemarle 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Tantech and Albemarle, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tantech	1	0	0	0	1.00
Albemarle	2	11	13	1	2.48

Albemarle has a consensus target price of $194.13, suggesting a potential downside of 5.61%. Given Albemarle’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Albemarle is more favorable than Tantech.

Summary

Albemarle beats Tantech on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tantech

Tantech Holdings Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures bamboo-based charcoal products for industrial energy, household cooking, heating, purification, agricultural, and cleaning applications in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Consumer Products, Electric Vehicles, and Biodegradable Packaging. It provides pressed and formed charcoal briquettes for use in grills, incense burners, and other applications under the Algold brand. The company also offers Charcoal Doctor branded products, such as air purifiers and humidifiers, automotive accessories for air purification, underfloor humidity control products, pillows and mattresses, wardrobe deodorizers, mouse pads and wrist mats, refrigerator deodorants, charcoal toilet cleaner disks, liquid charcoal cleaners, shoe insoles, and decorative charcoal gifts. In addition, it provides bamboo vinegar, a liquid byproduct for use in disinfectants, detergents, lotions, specialized soaps, toilet cleaners, and fertilizers, as well as in various agricultural applications; and trades in charcoal products. Further, the company develops and sells electric buses, electric logistics cars, and specialty electric vehicles, such as brushless cleaning cars, electric cleaning cars, special emergency vehicles, and funeral cars; and solar cells, lithium-ion batteries, auto parts, and electric control systems. It is also involved in the biodegradable packaging and supply chain businesses, as well as provides commercial factoring services. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Lishui, the People's Republic of China.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Energy Storage, Specialties and Ketjen. The Energy Storage segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride; technical services for the handling and use of reactive lithium products; and lithium-containing by-products recycling services. The Specialties segment provides bromine-based specialty chemicals, including elemental bromine, alkyl and inorganic bromides, brominated powdered activated carbon, and other bromine fine chemicals; lithium specialties, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride; develops and manufactures cesium products for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries; and zirconium, barium, and titanium products for pyrotechnical applications that include airbag initiators. The Ketjen segment offers clean fuels technologies (CFT), which is composed of hydroprocessing catalysts (HPC) together with isomerization and akylation catalysts; fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts and additives; and performance catalyst solutions (PCS), which is composed of organometallics and curatives. The company serves the energy storage, petroleum refining, consumer electronics, construction, automotive, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, and crop protection markets. Albemarle Corporation was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.