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

Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ:ELBM) and CBAK Energy Technology (NASDAQ:CBAT) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Electra Battery Materials and CBAK Energy Technology’s revenue, earnings per share 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)	-1.23
CBAK Energy Technology	$204.44 million	0.48	-$2.45 million	($0.04)	-27.25

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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Electra Battery Materials and CBAK Energy Technology, as reported by MarketBeat.

	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 presently has a consensus target price of $1.93, indicating a potential upside of 312.82%. Given Electra Battery Materials’ higher possible upside, equities research 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, suggesting that its share price is 157% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CBAK Energy Technology has a beta of 1.82, suggesting 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 held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of CBAK Energy Technology shares are held by institutional investors. 22.7% of Electra Battery Materials shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of CBAK Energy Technology shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Electra Battery Materials beats CBAK Energy Technology on 7 of the 11 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.