Financial Comparison: Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) versus SunCoke Energy (NYSE:SXC)

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) and SunCoke Energy (NYSE:SXC) are both materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, profitability, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Hecla Mining and SunCoke Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hecla Mining	1	6	2	0	2.11
SunCoke Energy	1	1	0	0	1.50

Hecla Mining currently has a consensus price target of $23.82, suggesting a potential upside of 26.56%. SunCoke Energy has a consensus price target of $9.00, suggesting a potential downside of 5.71%. Given Hecla Mining’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Hecla Mining is more favorable than SunCoke Energy.

Dividends

Hecla Mining pays an annual dividend of $0.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. SunCoke Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Hecla Mining pays out 2.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SunCoke Energy pays out -75.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. SunCoke Energy has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. SunCoke Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Hecla Mining and SunCoke Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hecla Mining	20.84%	18.91%	14.58%
SunCoke Energy	-2.88%	6.37%	2.28%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hecla Mining and SunCoke Energy”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hecla Mining	$1.74 billion	7.25	$321.71 million	$0.49	38.41
SunCoke Energy	$1.84 billion	0.44	-$44.20 million	($0.64)	-14.91

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.0% of Hecla Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.5% of SunCoke Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Hecla Mining shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of SunCoke Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Hecla Mining has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SunCoke Energy has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hecla Mining beats SunCoke Energy on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hecla Mining

Hecla Mining Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides precious and base metal properties in the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, and China. The company mines for silver, gold, lead, and zinc concentrates, as well as carbon material containing silver and gold for custom smelters, metal traders, and third-party processors; and doré containing silver and gold. It flagship project is the Greens Creek mine located on Admiralty Island in southeast Alaska. Hecla Mining Company was incorporated in 1891 and is headquartered in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

About SunCoke Energy

SunCoke Energy, Inc. operates as an independent producer of coke in the Americas and Brazil. The company operates through three segments: Domestic Coke, Brazil Coke, and Logistics. It offers metallurgical and thermal coal. The company also provides handling and/or mixing services to steel, coke, electric utility, coal producing, and other manufacturing based customers. In addition, it owns and operates cokemaking facilities in the United States and Brazil. The company was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Lisle, Illinois.