Critical Comparison: United States Antimony (NYSE:UAMY) & Santacruz Silver Mining (NASDAQ:SCZM)

United States Antimony (NYSE:UAMY) and Santacruz Silver Mining (NASDAQ:SCZM) are both small-cap materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for United States Antimony and Santacruz Silver Mining, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United States Antimony	1	0	4	0	2.60
Santacruz Silver Mining	0	2	1	0	2.33

United States Antimony currently has a consensus target price of $10.12, indicating a potential upside of 117.51%. Santacruz Silver Mining has a consensus target price of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.74%. Given United States Antimony’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe United States Antimony is more favorable than Santacruz Silver Mining.

Profitability

This table compares United States Antimony and Santacruz Silver Mining’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United States Antimony	-44.60%	-5.29%	-4.86%
Santacruz Silver Mining	9.97%	21.55%	9.49%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares United States Antimony and Santacruz Silver Mining”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United States Antimony	$39.26 million	17.75	-$4.34 million	($0.13)	-35.81
Santacruz Silver Mining	$326.38 million	2.46	$42.22 million	$0.32	27.00

Santacruz Silver Mining has higher revenue and earnings than United States Antimony. United States Antimony is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Santacruz Silver Mining, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.5% of United States Antimony shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of United States Antimony shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Santacruz Silver Mining beats United States Antimony on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United States Antimony

United States Antimony Corporation produces and sells antimony, silver, gold, precious metals, and zeolite products in the United States, and Canada. It operates through Antimony, Zeolite, and Precious Metals segments. The company offers antimony oxide that is primarily used in conjunction with a halogen to form a synergistic flame retardant system for plastics, rubber, fiberglass, textile goods, paints, coatings, and paper, as well as color fastener in paints and as a phosphorescent agent in fluorescent light bulbs; antimony trisulfide used as a primer in ammunition; and antimony metal for use in bearings, storage batteries, and ordnance. The company also offers coarse and fine zeolite for soil amendment and fertilizer, water filtration, sewage treatment, nuclear waste and other environmental cleanup, odor control, gas separation, and animal nutrition applications, as well as in catalysts, petroleum refining, concrete, solar energy and heat exchange, desiccants, pellet binding, horse and kitty litter, and floor cleaners, as well as carriers for insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides. In addition, it recovers unrefined and refined gold and silver. United States Antimony Corporation was founded in 1968 and is based in Thompson Falls, Montana.

About Santacruz Silver Mining

Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of mineral properties in Mexico. The company primarily explores for silver, as well as for gold, zinc, lead, and copper deposits. It primarily holds a 100% interest in the Rosario project located in the municipality of Charcas in the state of San Luis Potosi; and Veta Grande project that include three concession groups, which consists of 184 mining concessions covering an area of 8,944 hectares in the Zacatecas Mining District, Mexico. The company was formerly known as Forte Resources Inc. and changed its name to Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. in April 2012. Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. Was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.