Pretium Resources (PVG) and McEwen Mining (MUX) Critical Contrast

Pretium Resources (NYSE: PVG) and McEwen Mining (NYSE:MUX) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitabiliy, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Dividends

McEwen Mining pays an annual dividend of $0.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Pretium Resources does not pay a dividend. McEwen Mining pays out 50.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Pretium Resources and McEwen Mining’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pretium Resources	N/A	N/A	-$17.15 million	($0.30)	-31.90
McEwen Mining	$54.03 million	14.83	-$6.27 million	$0.02	128.56

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

47.7% of Pretium Resources shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.8% of McEwen Mining shares are held by institutional investors. 26.6% of McEwen Mining shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Pretium Resources and McEwen Mining, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pretium Resources	0	1	4	0	2.80
McEwen Mining	0	0	1	0	3.00

Pretium Resources presently has a consensus price target of $15.50, suggesting a potential upside of 61.96%. McEwen Mining has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 94.55%. Given McEwen Mining’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe McEwen Mining is more favorable than Pretium Resources.

Risk and Volatility

Pretium Resources has a beta of 0.11, meaning that its stock price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, McEwen Mining has a beta of -1.25, meaning that its stock price is 225% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Pretium Resources and McEwen Mining’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pretium Resources	N/A	-2.42%	-1.42%
McEwen Mining	9.35%	0.73%	0.66%

Summary

McEwen Mining beats Pretium Resources on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pretium Resources

Pretium Resources Inc. is a Canada-based exploration and development company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of precious metal resource properties in the Americas. The Company’s projects include Brucejack Project and the Snowfield Project, both of which are located in northwestern British Columbia. The Company’s focus is on advancing the Brucejack Project to production as a high-grade gold underground mine. The Brucejack Project is the Company’s material mineral project, which is located approximately 950 kilometers northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia, and over 65 kilometers north-northwest of Stewart, British Columbia. The Brucejack Project consists of approximately four mining leases and over six mineral claims totaling approximately 3,050 hectares in area. The Snowfield Project borders the Brucejack Project to the north and consists of over one mineral claim with an area of approximately 1,267.43 hectares.

About McEwen Mining

McEwen Mining Inc. is a mining and minerals production and exploration company. The Company is focused on precious and base metals in Argentina, Mexico and the United States. The Company’s segments include Mexico, Minera Santa Cruz S.A. (MSC), Nevada and Los Azules. The Mexico Operations segment includes properties, such as El Gallo 1 mine and the El Gallo 2 project. The MSC segment includes properties, such as the San Jose mine and other concessions located around the mine. The Company’s properties in Nevada segment include Gold Bar project and exploration properties. The Gold Bar project is a proposed mine project. The Los Azules segment includes various properties, such as Los Azules project, Chonchones project, Laganoso project, La Cerrada project and Other Argentina properties. The Los Azules copper project is an advanced-stage porphyry copper exploration project located in the cordilleran region of San Juan Province, Argentina near the border with Chile.