Westwater Resources (NASDAQ:WWR) & Lithium Americas (Argentina) (NYSE:LAAC) Critical Contrast

Lithium Americas (Argentina) (NYSE:LAAC) and Westwater Resources (NASDAQ:WWR) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Lithium Americas (Argentina) and Westwater Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	0	0	0	0	0.00
Westwater Resources	0	0	1	0	3.00

Westwater Resources has a consensus price target of $1.75, suggesting a potential upside of 66.67%. Given Westwater Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Westwater Resources is more favorable than Lithium Americas (Argentina).

Profitability

This table compares Lithium Americas (Argentina) and Westwater Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	N/A	-1.37%	-1.08%
Westwater Resources	N/A	-5.89%	-5.50%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lithium Americas (Argentina) and Westwater Resources”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	N/A	N/A	$1.29 billion	$7.79	1.03
Westwater Resources	N/A	N/A	-$7.75 million	($0.25)	-4.20

Westwater Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lithium Americas (Argentina), indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

49.2% of Lithium Americas (Argentina) shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.7% of Westwater Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.8% of Lithium Americas (Argentina) shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Westwater Resources shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Lithium Americas (Argentina) has a beta of 1.35, suggesting that its share price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westwater Resources has a beta of 1.49, suggesting that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lithium Americas (Argentina) beats Westwater Resources on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lithium Americas (Argentina)

Lithium Americas (Argentina) Corp. operates as a resource company. The company explores for lithium deposits. The company owns interests in the Cauchari-Olaroz project located in Jujuy province of Argentina. It also has a pipeline of development and exploration stage projects, including the Pastos Grandes project and the Sal de la Puna project located in Salta Province in northwestern Argentina. Lithium Americas (Argentina) Corp. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Westwater Resources

Westwater Resources, Inc. operates as an energy technology company, focuses on developing battery-grade natural graphite materials. The company holds interests in Kellyton Graphite Plant located in Kellyton, Alabama; and Bama Mine Project situated in south Alabama. It holds interests in Coosa graphite project located in Coosa County, Alabama. The company was formerly known as Uranium Resources, Inc. and changed its name to Westwater Resources, Inc. in August 2017. Westwater Resources, Inc. was incorporated in 1977 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.