Analyzing American Lithium Minerals (OTCMKTS:AMLM) and Ero Copper (NYSE:ERO)

Ero Copper (NYSE:ERO) and American Lithium Minerals (OTCMKTS:AMLM) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Ero Copper and American Lithium Minerals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ero Copper	0	3	8	1	2.83
American Lithium Minerals	0	0	0	0	0.00

Ero Copper presently has a consensus price target of $23.50, suggesting a potential upside of 66.16%. Given Ero Copper’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ero Copper is more favorable than American Lithium Minerals.

Risk & Volatility

Ero Copper has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Lithium Minerals has a beta of -1.84, suggesting that its share price is 284% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ero Copper and American Lithium Minerals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ero Copper	3.87%	14.24%	6.44%
American Lithium Minerals	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ero Copper and American Lithium Minerals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ero Copper	$470.26 million	3.12	-$68.47 million	$0.17	83.19
American Lithium Minerals	$90,000.00	34.28	N/A	N/A	N/A

American Lithium Minerals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ero Copper.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.3% of Ero Copper shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ero Copper beats American Lithium Minerals on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ero Copper

Ero Copper Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and production of mining projects in Brazil. The company is involved in the production and sale of copper concentrate from the Caraíba operations located in the Curaçá Valley, northeastern Bahia state, Brazil, as well as gold and silver by-products. It also holds 100% interests in the Tucumã project, a copper development project located within southeastern Pará state; and the Xavantina Operations located in Mato Grosso state. Ero Copper Corp. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About American Lithium Minerals

American Lithium Minerals, Inc., engages in mineral exploration for lithium and rare earth minerals in the United States. The company's properties include Stonewall Flat Lithium project that covers an area of approximately 1,250 acres on Stonewall Playa in Nevada's Lida Valley Basin; and Kingman Rare Earth project comprising two individual properties, which include Kingman Feldspar Mine and the Mineral X property. It also holds interest in Silver Peak Lithium, a claystone lithium prospect comprising 24 lode mining claims located in Esmeralda County; and West End Lithium property that comprises 24 lode mining claims located in Nye County, Nevada. The company was formerly known as Nugget Resources Inc. and changed its name to American Lithium Minerals, Inc. in March 2009. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada..