Financial Analysis: United States Antimony (NYSE:UAMY) vs. Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF)

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) and United States Antimony (NYSE:UAMY) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Cleveland-Cliffs and United States Antimony, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cleveland-Cliffs	2	6	4	0	2.17
United States Antimony	1	0	3	1	2.80

Cleveland-Cliffs presently has a consensus target price of $13.82, suggesting a potential downside of 0.71%. United States Antimony has a consensus target price of $10.12, suggesting a potential upside of 229.27%. Given United States Antimony’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe United States Antimony is more favorable than Cleveland-Cliffs.

Profitability

This table compares Cleveland-Cliffs and United States Antimony’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cleveland-Cliffs	-2.36%	-6.83%	-2.05%
United States Antimony	-44.60%	-5.29%	-4.86%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cleveland-Cliffs and United States Antimony”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cleveland-Cliffs	$18.61 billion	0.43	-$1.48 billion	($0.85)	-16.37
United States Antimony	$39.26 million	11.72	-$4.34 million	($0.13)	-23.65

United States Antimony has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cleveland-Cliffs. United States Antimony is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cleveland-Cliffs, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.7% of Cleveland-Cliffs shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.5% of United States Antimony shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Cleveland-Cliffs shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of United States Antimony shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Cleveland-Cliffs has a beta of 2.09, meaning that its share price is 109% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United States Antimony has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United States Antimony beats Cleveland-Cliffs on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel company and the largest iron ore pellet producer in North America. The company is vertically integrated from mining through iron making, steelmaking, rolling, finishing and downstream with hot and cold stamping of steel parts and components. The company was formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and changed its name to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. in August 2017. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

About United States Antimony

United States Antimony Corporation produces and sells antimony, silver, gold, precious metals, and zeolite products in the United States, and Canada. It operates through Antimony, Zeolite, and Precious Metals segments. The company offers antimony oxide that is primarily used in conjunction with a halogen to form a synergistic flame retardant system for plastics, rubber, fiberglass, textile goods, paints, coatings, and paper, as well as color fastener in paints and as a phosphorescent agent in fluorescent light bulbs; antimony trisulfide used as a primer in ammunition; and antimony metal for use in bearings, storage batteries, and ordnance. The company also offers coarse and fine zeolite for soil amendment and fertilizer, water filtration, sewage treatment, nuclear waste and other environmental cleanup, odor control, gas separation, and animal nutrition applications, as well as in catalysts, petroleum refining, concrete, solar energy and heat exchange, desiccants, pellet binding, horse and kitty litter, and floor cleaners, as well as carriers for insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides. In addition, it recovers unrefined and refined gold and silver. United States Antimony Corporation was founded in 1968 and is based in Thompson Falls, Montana.