Reliance (NYSE:RS – Get Free Report) and American Resources (NASDAQ:AREC – Get Free Report) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Reliance and American Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Reliance | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2.43 |
| American Resources | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2.83 |
Reliance presently has a consensus price target of $317.25, suggesting a potential upside of 8.95%. American Resources has a consensus price target of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 133.46%. Given American Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe American Resources is more favorable than Reliance.
Risk & Volatility
Profitability
This table compares Reliance and American Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Reliance | 5.23% | 10.37% | 7.24% |
| American Resources | -27,532.48% | N/A | -19.65% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Reliance and American Resources”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Reliance | $13.84 billion | 1.10 | $875.20 million | $13.68 | 21.29 |
| American Resources | $145,026.00 | 1,796.78 | -$39.25 million | ($0.41) | -6.27 |
Reliance has higher revenue and earnings than American Resources. American Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Reliance, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
79.3% of Reliance shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.3% of American Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Reliance shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.8% of American Resources shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Reliance beats American Resources on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Reliance
Reliance, Inc. operates as a diversified metal solutions provider and the metals service center company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company distributes a line of approximately 100,000 metal products, including alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, and specialty steel products; and provides metals processing services to general manufacturing, non-residential construction, transportation, aerospace, energy, electronics and semiconductor fabrication, and heavy industries. It sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers, which primarily include small machine shops and fabricators. The company was formerly known as Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. and changed its name to Reliance, Inc. in February 2024. Reliance, Inc. was founded in 1939 and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
About American Resources
American Resources Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, extracts, processes, transports, and sells metallurgical coal to the steel and industrial industries. It supplies raw materials; and sells coal used in pulverized coal injections. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Fishers, Indiana.
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