Contrasting Aqua Metals (AQMS) & The Competition

Aqua Metals (NASDAQ:AQMS) is one of 354 public companies in the “Commercial Services & Supplies” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Aqua Metals to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Aqua Metals has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aqua Metals’ peers have a beta of 2.50, indicating that their average stock price is 150% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Aqua Metals and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aqua Metals	$30,000.00	-$22.65 million	-0.29
Aqua Metals Competitors	$2.48 billion	$140.58 million	13.47

Aqua Metals’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Aqua Metals. Aqua Metals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Aqua Metals and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aqua Metals	N/A	-145.58%	-106.72%
Aqua Metals Competitors	-49.90%	-119.11%	-1.28%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

22.0% of Aqua Metals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.5% of shares of all “Commercial Services & Supplies” companies are owned by institutional investors. 7.1% of Aqua Metals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.9% of shares of all “Commercial Services & Supplies” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Aqua Metals and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aqua Metals	1	0	1	0	2.00
Aqua Metals Competitors	1906	6250	9033	665	2.47

Aqua Metals presently has a consensus target price of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 266.30%. As a group, “Commercial Services & Supplies” companies have a potential upside of 10.11%. Given Aqua Metals’ higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Aqua Metals is more favorable than its peers.

Summary

Aqua Metals peers beat Aqua Metals on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

About Aqua Metals

Aqua Metals, Inc. engages in reinventing metals recycling activities with its patented AquaRefining technology. The company's technology produces metals and alloys that can be returned into the battery manufacturing supply chain markets, as well as sells metals for use in various advanced manufacturing industries. Its AquaRefining, a low-emissions and recycling technology that replaces polluting furnaces and hazardous chemicals with electricity-powered electroplating to recover valuable metals and materials from spent batteries. Aqua Metals, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.