Analyzing Solesence (NASDAQ:SLSN) and Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC)

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

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Edgewell Personal Care and Solesence”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Edgewell Personal Care	$2.22 billion	0.58	$25.40 million	($2.00)	-13.94
Solesence	$62.06 million	0.94	$1.79 million	($0.03)	-27.51

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Edgewell Personal Care and Solesence, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Edgewell Personal Care	1	4	3	0	2.25
Solesence	1	0	0	0	1.00

Edgewell Personal Care presently has a consensus target price of $31.83, suggesting a potential upside of 14.20%. Given Edgewell Personal Care’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Edgewell Personal Care is more favorable than Solesence.

Volatility and Risk

Edgewell Personal Care has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Solesence has a beta of 1.27, indicating that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.9% of Edgewell Personal Care shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.2% of Solesence shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Edgewell Personal Care shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.8% of Solesence shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Edgewell Personal Care and Solesence’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Edgewell Personal Care	-4.55%	5.76%	2.35%
Solesence	-3.40%	-11.58%	-3.79%

Summary

Edgewell Personal Care beats Solesence on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Edgewell Personal Care

Edgewell Personal Care Company is a manufacturer and marketer of personal care products in the wet shave, sun and skin care, feminine care and infant care categories. As of September 30, 2016, the Company had a portfolio of over 25 brands. It manages its business in four segments: Wet Shave, Sun and Skin Care, Feminine Care and All Other. Its Wet shave products are sold under the Schick, Wilkinson Sword, Edge, Skintimate, Shave Guard and Personna brand names. Its Sun and Skin Care products are sold under the Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, Wet Ones and Playtex brand names and offers Wet Ones, portable hand wipes category, and Playtex household gloves, the branded household glove in the United States. Its Feminine Care segment markets its products under the Playtex, Stayfree, Carefree and o.b. brands and markets pads and liners. Its All Other segment includes infant care, pet care and miscellaneous other products.

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.