Vista Gold (NYSE:VGZ) and Golden Minerals (NYSE:AUMN) Head to Head Contrast

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

Profitability

This table compares Golden Minerals and Vista Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Golden Minerals	-77.16%	-223.07%	-57.53%
Vista Gold	N/A	-97.04%	-56.31%

Volatility and Risk

Golden Minerals has a beta of 0.26, indicating that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vista Gold has a beta of 1.66, indicating that its share price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.4% of Golden Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.3% of Vista Gold shares are held by institutional investors. 3.2% of Golden Minerals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Vista Gold shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Golden Minerals and Vista Gold, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Golden Minerals	0	0	2	0	3.00
Vista Gold	0	0	1	0	3.00

Golden Minerals presently has a consensus target price of $7.23, indicating a potential upside of 1,662.55%. Vista Gold has a consensus target price of $2.75, indicating a potential upside of 444.34%. Given Golden Minerals’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Golden Minerals is more favorable than Vista Gold.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Golden Minerals and Vista Gold’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Golden Minerals	$12.00 million	0.50	-$9.23 million	($0.93)	-0.44
Vista Gold	N/A	N/A	-$6.59 million	($0.04)	-12.63

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

Summary

Vista Gold beats Golden Minerals on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Vista Gold

Vista Gold Corp., together with its subsidiaries, acquires, explores, evaluates, and advances gold exploration and development projects in Australia. Its flagship asset is the 100% owned Mt Todd gold project located in Northern Territory, Australia. The company was incorporated in 1983 and is based in Englewood, Colorado.