Financial Analysis: Emeren Group (NYSE:SOL) and Solar Thin Films (OTCMKTS:SLTZ)

Emeren Group (NYSE:SOL) and Solar Thin Films (OTCMKTS:SLTZ) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

44.1% of Emeren Group shares are held by institutional investors. 37.3% of Emeren Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.0% of Solar Thin Films shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Emeren Group and Solar Thin Films, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Emeren Group	1	0	2	0	2.33
Solar Thin Films	0	0	0	0	0.00

Emeren Group currently has a consensus price target of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 166.67%. Given Emeren Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Emeren Group is more favorable than Solar Thin Films.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Emeren Group and Solar Thin Films”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Emeren Group	$92.07 million	1.05	-$12.48 million	($0.08)	-23.44
Solar Thin Films	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Solar Thin Films has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Emeren Group.

Profitability

This table compares Emeren Group and Solar Thin Films’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Emeren Group	-5.77%	-1.16%	-0.87%
Solar Thin Films	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Emeren Group beats Solar Thin Films on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Emeren Group

Emeren Group Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, develops, builds, and sells solar power projects. It owns and operates 3-gigawatt pipeline of projects and independent power producer assets, as well as a 10-gigawatt pipeline of storage pipeline. The company develops community solar gardens; and sells project rights. In addition, it engages in engineering design; procurement of solar modules; balance-of-system components and other components; and construction contracting and management services. Further, the company generates and sells electricity. It operates in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Poland, Italy, and Hungary. The company was formerly known as ReneSola Ltd and changed its name to Emeren Group Ltd in January 2023. Emeren Group Ltd was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

About Solar Thin Films

Solar Thin Films, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and installs thin-film amorphous silicon photovoltaic manufacturing equipment used in plants that produce photovoltaic thin-film a-Si solar panels or modules. The company serves businesses and investment partnerships engaged in the production of photovoltaic thin-film modules; and corporations and governments involved in the construction of solar power plants principally in the United States, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, and Asia. Solar Thin Films, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is based in New York, New York.