Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) & Solesence (NASDAQ:SLSN) Financial Contrast

Solesence (NASDAQ:SLSN) and Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Solesence and Helen of Troy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Solesence	8.13%	32.99%	9.74%
Helen of Troy	-17.89%	8.96%	4.70%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Solesence and Helen of Troy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Solesence	$52.35 million	4.36	$4.24 million	$0.07	46.29
Helen of Troy	$1.91 billion	0.31	$123.75 million	($14.52)	-1.79

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

70.2% of Solesence shares are held by institutional investors. 4.8% of Solesence shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Helen of Troy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Solesence has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Helen of Troy has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Solesence and Helen of Troy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Solesence	0	0	0	0	0.00
Helen of Troy	0	3	0	0	2.00

Helen of Troy has a consensus target price of $44.33, indicating a potential upside of 70.91%. Given Helen of Troy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Helen of Troy is more favorable than Solesence.

Summary

Solesence beats Helen of Troy on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Solesence

Nanophase Technologies Corporation provides engineered materials, formulation development, and commercial manufacturing with an integrated family of technologies in the United States. It offers surface engineered zinc oxide and titanium dioxide for sunscreens and personal care products; fully formulated cosmetics, sun care, and skin care under the Solésence brand name; and advanced materials products, such as architectural coatings, industrial coatings, abrasion-resistant additives, plastics additives, medical diagnostics, and various surface finishing technologies applications. The company was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Romeoville, Illinois.

About Helen of Troy

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories. This segment also provides technical and outdoor sports packs, bike packs and bags, hydration and travel packs, duffel bags and luggage, lifestyle and everyday packs, kid carrier packs, and accessories. The Beauty & Wellness segment offers mass, professional and prestige hair appliances, brushes, grooming tools, and accessories; and prestige shampoos, liquid hair styling products, treatments, and conditioners. This segment also provides thermometers, blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, nasal aspirators, humidifiers, faucet mount and pitcher water filtration systems, air purifiers, heaters, fans, and humidification, thermometry, water filtration, and air purification consumables. The company sells its products through mass merchandisers, sporting goods retailers, department stores, drugstore chains, home improvement stores, grocery stores, specialty stores, prestige beauty chains, beauty supply retailers, e-commerce retailers, wholesalers, warehouse clubs, and various types of distributors, as well as directly to consumers under the OXO, Good Grips, Soft Works, OXO tot, OXO Brew, OXO Strive, OXO Outdoor, Hydro Flask, Osprey, Drybar, Hot Tools, Curlsmith, and PUR brands. Helen of Troy Limited was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in El Paso, Texas.