Financial Review: South32 (OTCMKTS:SOUHY) vs. Fortuna Mining (NYSE:FSM)

Fortuna Mining (NYSE:FSM) and South32 (OTCMKTS:SOUHY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

Fortuna Mining has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, South32 has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Fortuna Mining and South32, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fortuna Mining	1	2	4	0	2.43
South32	0	6	0	1	2.29

Fortuna Mining currently has a consensus price target of $9.50, suggesting a potential downside of 2.64%. Given Fortuna Mining’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Fortuna Mining is more favorable than South32.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Fortuna Mining and South32″s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fortuna Mining	$1.06 billion	2.82	$128.74 million	$0.72	13.55
South32	$5.78 billion	1.75	$213.00 million	N/A	N/A

South32 has higher revenue and earnings than Fortuna Mining.

Profitability

This table compares Fortuna Mining and South32’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fortuna Mining	21.48%	12.42%	8.88%
South32	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.8% of Fortuna Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of South32 shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Fortuna Mining shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of South32 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

Fortuna Mining beats South32 on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fortuna Mining

Fortuna Mining Corp. engages in the precious and base metal mining in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Mexico, Peru, and Côte d’Ivoire. It operates through Mansfield, Sanu, Sango, Cuzcatlan, Bateas, and Corporate segments. The company primarily explores for silver, lead, zinc, and gold. Its flagship project is the Séguéla gold mine, which consists of approximately 62,000 hectares and is located in the Worodougou Region of the Woroba District, Côte d’Ivoire. The company was formerly known as Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. and changed its name to Fortuna Mining Corp. in June 2024. Fortuna Mining Corp. was incorporated in 1990 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

About South32

South32 Limited operates as a diversified metals and mining company in Australia, India, China, Japan, the Middle East, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Worsley Alumina, Brazil Alumina, Brazil Aluminium, Hillside Aluminium, Mozal Aluminium, Sierra Gorda, Cannington, Hermosa, Cerro Matoso, Illawarra Metallurgical Coal, Australia Manganese, and South Africa Manganese segments. It has a portfolio of assets producing bauxite, alumina, aluminum, copper, silver, lead, zinc, nickel, metallurgical coal, manganese, ferronickel, and other base metals. The company also exports its products. South32 Limited was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Perth, Australia.