Head-To-Head Review: Iamgold Corporation (NYSE:IAG) & DRDGOLD Limited (DRD)

Iamgold Corporation (NYSE: IAG) and DRDGOLD Limited (NYSE:DRD) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitabiliy, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Iamgold Corporation has a beta of -0.31, meaning that its share price is 131% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DRDGOLD Limited has a beta of -1.96, meaning that its share price is 296% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

DRDGOLD Limited pays an annual dividend of $0.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Iamgold Corporation does not pay a dividend. DRDGOLD Limited has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Iamgold Corporation and DRDGOLD Limited, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Iamgold Corporation	0	6	2	0	2.25
DRDGOLD Limited	0	1	0	0	2.00

Iamgold Corporation presently has a consensus price target of $5.85, suggesting a potential upside of 7.54%. Given Iamgold Corporation’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Iamgold Corporation is more favorable than DRDGOLD Limited.

Profitability

This table compares Iamgold Corporation and DRDGOLD Limited’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Iamgold Corporation	-1.80%	1.63%	1.03%
DRDGOLD Limited	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Iamgold Corporation and DRDGOLD Limited’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Iamgold Corporation	$1.03 billion	2.45	$330.30 million	($0.04)	-136.00
DRDGOLD Limited	$190.91 million	0.68	$19.98 million	N/A	N/A

Iamgold Corporation has higher revenue and earnings than DRDGOLD Limited.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

58.1% of Iamgold Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.6% of DRDGOLD Limited shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of DRDGOLD Limited shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Iamgold Corporation beats DRDGOLD Limited on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Iamgold Corporation

IAMGOLD Corporation (IAMGOLD) is engaged primarily in the exploration for, and the development and production of, mineral resource properties throughout the world. Through its holdings, IAMGOLD has interests in various operations, exploration and development properties. IAMGOLD is a mid-tier mining company with approximately four operating gold mines on over three continents. The Company’s gold mine segment is divided into geographic segments, such as Burkina Faso – Essakane mine; Suriname-Rosebel mine; Canada-Doyon division, which includes the Westwood mine and the Doyon mine, and Joint ventures (Mali)-Sadiola mine (41%) and Yatela mine (40%). The Company’s non-gold segments are divided into Exploration and evaluation, and Corporate, which includes royalty interests located in Canada and investments in associates and joint ventures. In Canada, the Company owns the Westwood mine in Quebec and the Cote Gold project, a development project located in Ontario.

About DRDGOLD Limited

DRDGOLD Limited is a gold mining company. The Company is engaged in gold production by tailings retreatment. The Company is focused on the recovery of lower-risk, higher-margin ounces primarily from its metallurgical plant located approximately 50 kilometers east of Johannesburg in Brakpan. The Company owns approximately 100% of its holding company, Ergo Mining Operations Proprietary Limited (EMO). Ergo Mining Proprietary Limited (Ergo) is owned by EMO. Ergo has a vast footprint adjacent to Johannesburg on the central and eastern Witwatersrand of South Africa. Its assets cover an area of approximately 62 kilometers from east to west and over 25 kilometers from north to south. The Ergo operation has over two metallurgical plants in operation, including Knights plant and The Ergo plant. The Knights plant in Germiston is treating the Cason dump and depositing waste on the Brakpan tailings facility (BTF). The Ergo plant has a total treatment capacity of 300,000 tons per month (tpm).