Financial Review: Lithium Americas (Argentina) (NYSE:LAAC) vs. International Tower Hill Mines (NYSE:THM)

International Tower Hill Mines (NYSE:THM) and Lithium Americas (Argentina) (NYSE:LAAC) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.6% of International Tower Hill Mines shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.2% of Lithium Americas (Argentina) shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of International Tower Hill Mines shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.8% of Lithium Americas (Argentina) shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

International Tower Hill Mines has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lithium Americas (Argentina) has a beta of 1.35, meaning that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for International Tower Hill Mines and Lithium Americas (Argentina), as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
International Tower Hill Mines	0	0	0	0	0.00
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	0	2	3	1	2.83

Lithium Americas (Argentina) has a consensus target price of $7.42, suggesting a potential upside of 280.34%. Given Lithium Americas (Argentina)’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lithium Americas (Argentina) is more favorable than International Tower Hill Mines.

Profitability

This table compares International Tower Hill Mines and Lithium Americas (Argentina)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
International Tower Hill Mines	N/A	-5.82%	-5.80%
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	N/A	-1.37%	-1.08%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares International Tower Hill Mines and Lithium Americas (Argentina)”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
International Tower Hill Mines	N/A	N/A	-$3.40 million	($0.01)	-67.00
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	N/A	N/A	$1.29 billion	$7.79	0.25

International Tower Hill Mines 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.

Summary

Lithium Americas (Argentina) beats International Tower Hill Mines on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About International Tower Hill Mines

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. is a Canada-based resource exploration company possessing a portfolio of Alaskan and Nevada based gold and base metal exploration projects. The Company is currently focused on the Livengood Gold Project located in the north of Fairbanks, Alaska. International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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.