Analyzing Golden Minerals (NYSE:AUMN) & Northern Dynasty Minerals (NASDAQ:NAK)

Northern Dynasty Minerals (NASDAQ:NAK) and Golden Minerals (NYSE:AUMN) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Northern Dynasty Minerals has a beta of 0.08, meaning that its stock price is 92% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Golden Minerals has a beta of -1.03, meaning that its stock price is 203% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Northern Dynasty Minerals and Golden Minerals”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Northern Dynasty Minerals	N/A	N/A	N/A	($0.12)	-18.58
Golden Minerals	$300,000.00	14.14	-$9.23 million	($0.16)	-1.76

Northern Dynasty Minerals has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Golden Minerals. Northern Dynasty Minerals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Golden Minerals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Northern Dynasty Minerals and Golden Minerals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northern Dynasty Minerals	N/A	N/A	N/A
Golden Minerals	N/A	-1,051.75%	-57.22%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Northern Dynasty Minerals and Golden Minerals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northern Dynasty Minerals	0	0	1	0	3.00
Golden Minerals	0	0	0	0	0.00

Northern Dynasty Minerals presently has a consensus target price of $2.50, indicating a potential upside of 12.11%. Given Northern Dynasty Minerals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Northern Dynasty Minerals is more favorable than Golden Minerals.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

10.6% of Northern Dynasty Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.4% of Golden Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Northern Dynasty Minerals shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Golden Minerals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Northern Dynasty Minerals beats Golden Minerals on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Northern Dynasty Minerals

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. engages in the exploration of mineral properties in the United States. Its principal mineral property is the Pebble Copper-Gold-Molybdenum-Silver-Rhenium project comprising 1,840 mineral claims that covers an area of approximately 274 square miles located in southwest Alaska, 17 miles from the villages of Iliamna and Newhalen, and approximately 200 miles southwest of the city of Anchorage. The company was formerly known as Northern Dynasty Explorations Ltd. and changed its name to Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. in October 1997. Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Golden Minerals

Golden Minerals Company, a precious metals exploration company explores for mineral properties in Argentina, Nevada, and Mexico. It explores for gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, and other minerals. The company was formerly known as Apex Silver Mines Limited and changed its name to Golden Minerals Company in March 2009. Golden Minerals Company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Golden, Colorado.