Critical Review: Atlas Lithium (NASDAQ:ATLX) and Reliance (NYSE:RS)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Reliance and Atlas Lithium, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Reliance	0	5	3	0	2.38
Atlas Lithium	1	0	1	0	2.00

Reliance currently has a consensus price target of $323.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.64%. Atlas Lithium has a consensus price target of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 140.24%. Given Atlas Lithium’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Atlas Lithium is more favorable than Reliance.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.3% of Reliance shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.4% of Atlas Lithium shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Reliance shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 33.6% of Atlas Lithium shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Reliance and Atlas Lithium’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Reliance	5.23%	10.37%	7.24%
Atlas Lithium	-9,881.20%	-120.64%	-51.32%

Risk and Volatility

Reliance has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlas Lithium has a beta of -0.86, suggesting that its share price is 186% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Reliance and Atlas Lithium”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Reliance	$13.92 billion	1.05	$875.20 million	$13.68	20.42
Atlas Lithium	$670,000.00	175.72	-$42.24 million	($1.93)	-2.59

Reliance has higher revenue and earnings than Atlas Lithium. Atlas Lithium is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Reliance, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Reliance beats Atlas Lithium on 11 of the 14 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 Atlas Lithium

Atlas Lithium Corporation operates as a mineral exploration and development company in Brazil. It operates the Minas Gerais lithium project that consists of 54 mineral rights covering an area of 59,275 acres located within the Brazilian Eastern Pegmatitic Province; and Northeastern Brazil lithium project, which consists of 7 mineral rights covering an area of 16,266 acres in the States of Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte in northeastern Brazil. The company also owns 100% interests in various mining concessions for gold, diamond, and industrial sand; and early-stage projects and properties in other minerals, such as nickel, copper, rare earths, graphite, and titanium; as well as participates in iron and quartzite projects. The company was formerly known as Brazil Minerals, Inc. and changed its name to Atlas Lithium Corporation in October 2022. Atlas Lithium Corporation was founded in 2011 and is based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.