Head to Head Survey: Flotek Industries (NYSE:FTK) vs. Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI)

Flotek Industries (NYSE:FTK) and Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) are both materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Flotek Industries and Element Solutions”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flotek Industries	$292.97 million	3.23	$30.53 million	$0.99	26.37
Element Solutions	$2.55 billion	3.40	$190.80 million	$0.85	42.08

Element Solutions has higher revenue and earnings than Flotek Industries. Flotek Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Element Solutions, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Flotek Industries and Element Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flotek Industries	12.97%	21.57%	10.89%
Element Solutions	5.87%	15.45%	7.67%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

10.9% of Flotek Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.3% of Element Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 2.4% of Flotek Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Element Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Flotek Industries and Element Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flotek Industries	0	0	4	1	3.20
Element Solutions	0	2	7	3	3.08

Flotek Industries currently has a consensus target price of $34.67, indicating a potential upside of 32.80%. Element Solutions has a consensus target price of $46.36, indicating a potential upside of 29.64%. Given Flotek Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Flotek Industries is more favorable than Element Solutions.

Risk and Volatility

Flotek Industries has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Element Solutions has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Element Solutions beats Flotek Industries on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flotek Industries

Flotek Industries, Inc. operates as a technology-driven green chemistry and data company that serves customers across industrial and commercial markets in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Chemistry Technologies (CT) and Data Analytics (DA). The CT segment designs, develops, manufactures, packages, distributes, delivers, and markets green specialty chemicals that enhance the profitability of hydrocarbon producers, as well as green specialty chemistries, and logistics and technology services. This segment primarily serves integrated oil and gas, oilfield services, independent oil and gas, national and state-owned oil, geothermal energy, solar energy, and alternative energy companies. The DA segment designs, develops, produces, sells, and supports equipment and services that create and provide valuable information on the composition and properties of energy customers' hydrocarbon fluids. It sells its products directly through a mix of in-house sales professionals, as well as contractual agency agreements. Flotek Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Element Solutions

Element Solutions Inc operates as a specialty chemicals company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Electronics, and Industrial & Specialty. The Electronics segment researches, formulates, and sells specialty chemicals and materials for various types of electronics hardware products. This segment also supplies surface mount technologies, fluxes, thermal management material, coatings, and other attachment materials; chemical formulations to the electronics industry; and advanced copper interconnects, die attachment, sintered silver material, adhesives, wafer bump processes, and photomask technologies for semiconductor industry. It primarily serves mobile communications, computers, automobiles, and aerospace equipment industries. The Industrial & Specialty segment provides industrial solutions, which include chemical systems that protect and decorate metal and plastic surfaces; consumable chemicals that enable printing image transfer on flexible packaging materials; and chemistries used in water-based hydraulic control fluids for offshore energy production applications. It serves aerospace, automotive, construction, consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, and oil and gas production end markets. The company was formerly known as Platform Specialty Products Corporation and changed its name to Element Solutions Inc in January 2019. Element Solutions Inc was founded in 1785 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.