Reviewing PowerBank (NASDAQ:SUUN) and JinkoSolar (NYSE:JKS)

JinkoSolar (NYSE:JKS) and PowerBank (NASDAQ:SUUN) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

JinkoSolar has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PowerBank has a beta of 1.62, meaning that its share price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares JinkoSolar and PowerBank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JinkoSolar	-5.62%	-9.52%	-2.14%
PowerBank	-21.31%	-32.68%	-5.90%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for JinkoSolar and PowerBank, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JinkoSolar	2	3	1	1	2.14
PowerBank	2	0	1	1	2.25

JinkoSolar presently has a consensus price target of $24.13, indicating a potential upside of 7.64%. PowerBank has a consensus price target of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 510.69%. Given PowerBank’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe PowerBank is more favorable than JinkoSolar.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares JinkoSolar and PowerBank”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
JinkoSolar	$9.37 billion	0.13	-$635.64 million	($9.74)	-2.30
PowerBank	$39.86 million	0.78	-$22.25 million	($0.19)	-3.45

PowerBank has lower revenue, but higher earnings than JinkoSolar. PowerBank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than JinkoSolar, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

35.8% of JinkoSolar shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.8% of JinkoSolar shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

JinkoSolar beats PowerBank on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About JinkoSolar

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, production, and marketing of photovoltaic products. The company offers solar modules, silicon wafers, solar cells, recovered silicon materials, and silicon ingots. It also provides solar system integration services; solar power generation and solar system EPC services; and energy storage system, as well as undertakes solar power projects. The company sells its products to distributors, project developers, system integrators, and manufacturers of solar power products under the JinkoSolar brand. As of December 31, 2023, it had an integrated annual capacity of 85 gigawatts (GW) for mono wafers; 90 GW for solar cells; and 110 GW for solar modules. It operates in China, the United States, Mexico, Australia, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Jordan, Vietnam, Egypt, Spain, Germany, and internationally. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Shangrao, the People's Republic of China.

About PowerBank

PowerBank Corporation, formerly known as SolarBank Corporation, operates as an independent renewable and clean energy project developer and asset operator in Canada and the United States. The company engages in the site origination, development, financing, engineering, procurement, construction, operation, maintenance, and asset management of solar photovoltaic power generation projects. It offers solar energy solutions in the areas of behind-the-meter solar power plants, electricity grid connected community solar gardens, and utility scale solar farms. The company was formerly known as Abundant Solar Energy Inc. and changed its name to SolarBank Corporation in October 2022. SolarBank Corporation was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.