Reliance (NYSE:RS) vs. American Resources (NASDAQ:AREC) Head to Head Survey

Reliance (NYSE:RS) and American Resources (NASDAQ:AREC) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Reliance and American Resources”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Reliance	$13.84 billion	1.07	$875.20 million	$13.68	20.76
American Resources	$380,000.00	787.37	-$39.25 million	($0.41)	-7.20

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 and Insider Ownership

79.3% of Reliance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.3% of American Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Reliance shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 16.8% of American Resources shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Reliance has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Resources has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Reliance and American Resources, as reported by MarketBeat.

	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 target price of $317.25, suggesting a potential upside of 11.73%. American Resources has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 103.32%. Given American Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe American Resources is more favorable than Reliance.

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%

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.