Comparing Hycroft Mining (NASDAQ:HYMC) and HudBay Minerals (NYSE:HBM)

HudBay Minerals (NYSE:HBM) and Hycroft Mining (NASDAQ:HYMC) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for HudBay Minerals and Hycroft Mining, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HudBay Minerals	0	2	12	1	2.93
Hycroft Mining	1	0	0	0	1.00

HudBay Minerals currently has a consensus target price of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 44.04%. Given HudBay Minerals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe HudBay Minerals is more favorable than Hycroft Mining.

Profitability

This table compares HudBay Minerals and Hycroft Mining’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HudBay Minerals	25.71%	8.91%	4.56%
Hycroft Mining	N/A	-80.76%	-20.72%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

57.8% of HudBay Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.4% of Hycroft Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of HudBay Minerals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Hycroft Mining shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares HudBay Minerals and Hycroft Mining”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HudBay Minerals	$2.21 billion	3.24	$568.50 million	$1.43	12.62
Hycroft Mining	N/A	N/A	-$40.66 million	($1.62)	-18.49

HudBay Minerals has higher revenue and earnings than Hycroft Mining. Hycroft Mining is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HudBay Minerals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

HudBay Minerals has a beta of 1.27, indicating that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hycroft Mining has a beta of 2.58, indicating that its stock price is 158% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

HudBay Minerals beats Hycroft Mining on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HudBay Minerals

Hudbay Minerals Inc., a diversified mining company, focuses on the exploration, development, operation, and optimization of properties in North and South America. It produces copper concentrates containing gold, silver, and molybdenum; gold concentrates containing zinc; zinc concentrates; molybdenum concentrates; and silver/gold doré. The company's flagship project is the 100% owned Constancia mine located in the Province of Chumbivilcas in southern Peru. Hudbay Minerals Inc. was founded in 1927 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

About Hycroft Mining

Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a gold and silver development company in the United States. The company holds interests in the Hycroft mine that consists of 30 private parcels with patented claims comprising approximately 1,787 acres, and 3,247 unpatented mining claims that encompass approximately 62,298 acres located in the state of Nevada. Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation is based in Winnemucca, Nevada.