Stillwater Mining (NYSE: SWC) and Tahoe Resources (NYSE:TAHO) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.
Risk and Volatility
Stillwater Mining has a beta of 1.59, meaning that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tahoe Resources has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings for Stillwater Mining and Tahoe Resources, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Stillwater Mining | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.33 |
| Tahoe Resources | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2.13 |
Stillwater Mining presently has a consensus target price of $18.67, suggesting a potential upside of 3.70%. Tahoe Resources has a consensus target price of $17.33, suggesting a potential upside of 220.99%. Given Tahoe Resources’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Tahoe Resources is more favorable than Stillwater Mining.
Profitability
This table compares Stillwater Mining and Tahoe Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Stillwater Mining | 2.80% | 2.63% | 1.83% |
| Tahoe Resources | 19.39% | 7.39% | 6.26% |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Stillwater Mining and Tahoe Resources’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Stillwater Mining | N/A | N/A | N/A | $0.07 | 257.14 |
| Tahoe Resources | $884.74 million | 1.91 | $433.59 million | $0.55 | 9.82 |
Tahoe Resources has higher revenue and earnings than Stillwater Mining. Tahoe Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stillwater Mining, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
89.3% of Stillwater Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.0% of Tahoe Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Stillwater Mining shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Tahoe Resources beats Stillwater Mining on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.
Stillwater Mining Company Profile
Stillwater Mining Company is engaged in the development, extraction, processing, smelting and refining of palladium, platinum and associated metals (platinum group metals (PGMs)) produced by mining a geological formation in south-central Montana, known as the J-M Reef. The Company operates through five segments: Mine Production, PGM Recycling, Canadian Properties, South American Properties and All Other. The Company is engaged in recycling spent catalytic converters and other industrial sources. The Company is also engaged in expanding its mining development along the J-M Reef, and holds exploration-stage properties at the Marathon PGM copper property, adjacent to Lake Superior in northern Ontario, Canada (Marathon), and at the Altar copper-gold property in San Juan province, Argentina. In addition to palladium and platinum, the Company’s operations produce associated by-product metals, including nickel, copper and minor amounts of gold, silver and rhodium.
Tahoe Resources Company Profile
Tahoe Resources Inc. is a mine operations, and mineral exploration and development company. The Company’s principal business activities are the exploration, development, operation and acquisition of mineral properties for the mining of precious metals in the Americas. Its business involves operating the Escobal mine, a silver mining operation located in southeastern Guatemala, the La Arena and Shahuindo mines, gold mining operations located in northwestern Peru, and the Bell Creek mine and mill and the Timmins West mine, gold mining operations located in northeastern Ontario, Canada. Its additional business objectives include the expansion of gold production at the Shahuindo and Bell Creek mines, the development of the Whitney Project and the ongoing exploration programs in Peru and Canada. It focuses on the initial evaluation of exploration/development projects with the main projects being the La Arena copper-gold sulfide project in Peru and the Fenn-Gib gold project in Canada.
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