Head to Head Comparison: NioCorp Developments (NASDAQ:NB) & U.S. Gold (NASDAQ:USAU)

NioCorp Developments (NASDAQ:NB) and U.S. Gold (NASDAQ:USAU) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for NioCorp Developments and U.S. Gold, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NioCorp Developments	0	0	1	0	3.00
U.S. Gold	0	0	1	0	3.00

NioCorp Developments currently has a consensus price target of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 387.80%. U.S. Gold has a consensus price target of $14.50, suggesting a potential upside of 258.02%. Given NioCorp Developments’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe NioCorp Developments is more favorable than U.S. Gold.

Risk and Volatility

NioCorp Developments has a beta of -0.52, meaning that its share price is 152% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, U.S. Gold has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares NioCorp Developments and U.S. Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NioCorp Developments	N/A	N/A	-194.39%
U.S. Gold	N/A	-40.73%	-31.42%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

4.0% of NioCorp Developments shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.6% of U.S. Gold shares are held by institutional investors. 18.7% of NioCorp Developments shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of U.S. Gold shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares NioCorp Developments and U.S. Gold’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NioCorp Developments	N/A	N/A	-$40.08 million	($1.26)	-1.95
U.S. Gold	N/A	N/A	-$7.61 million	($0.73)	-5.55

U.S. Gold is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NioCorp Developments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

U.S. Gold beats NioCorp Developments on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NioCorp Developments

NioCorp Developments Ltd. engages in the exploration and development of mineral deposits in North America. It owns and develops the Elk Creek niobium/scandium/titanium project that owns one 226.43-acre parcel of land and associated mineral rights, and an additional 40 acres of mineral rights, as well as an optioned land package that covers an area of 1,396 acres located in Johnson County, southeast Nebraska. The company was formerly known as Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. and changed its name to NioCorp Developments Ltd. in March 2013. NioCorp Developments Ltd. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.

About U.S. Gold

U.S. Gold Corp. engages in the exploration and development of gold and precious metals in the United States. It also explores for copper and silver deposits. The company holds 100% interests in the CK Gold project, which consists of various mining leases and other mineral rights covering approximately 1,120 acres in Laramie County, Wyoming; the Keystone project that consists of 601 unpatented lode mining claims covering approximately 20 square miles in Eureka County, Nevada; and the Challis Gold project, which consists of 77 unpatented lode mining claims covering approximately 1,710 acres in Lemhi County, Idaho. It also has earn-in agreement to acquire a 50% ownership interest in the Maggie Creek project located in Eureka County, Nevada. The company was formerly known as Dataram Corporation and changed its name to U.S. Gold Corp. in June 2017. U.S. Gold Corp. is based in Elko, Nevada.