Head to Head Survey: Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) & Hycroft Mining (NASDAQ:HYMC)

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) and Hycroft Mining (NASDAQ:HYMC) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.2% of Cameco shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.4% of Hycroft Mining shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Cameco shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Hycroft Mining shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cameco and Hycroft Mining”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cameco	$2.29 billion	16.29	$125.42 million	$0.87	98.43
Hycroft Mining	$33.23 million	7.58	-$60.90 million	($1.99)	-3.23

Cameco has higher revenue and earnings than Hycroft Mining. Hycroft Mining is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cameco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Cameco and Hycroft Mining, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cameco	0	0	14	2	3.13
Hycroft Mining	0	0	0	0	0.00

Cameco presently has a consensus target price of $89.55, suggesting a potential upside of 4.56%. Given Cameco’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Cameco is more favorable than Hycroft Mining.

Profitability

This table compares Cameco and Hycroft Mining’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cameco	14.97%	8.21%	5.55%
Hycroft Mining	N/A	N/A	-34.76%

Risk and Volatility

Cameco has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hycroft Mining has a beta of 2.36, suggesting that its share price is 136% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cameco beats Hycroft Mining on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cameco

Cameco Corporation provides uranium for the generation of electricity. It operates through Uranium, Fuel Services, Westinghouse segments. The Uranium segment is involved in the exploration for, mining, and milling, purchase, and sale of uranium concentrate. The Fuel Services segment engages in the refining, conversion, and fabrication of uranium concentrate, as well as the purchase and sale of conversion services. This segment also produces CANDU reactor fuel bundles and other reactor components. The company offers nuclear fuel processing services. The Westinghouse segment engages in the manufacture of nuclear reactor technology original equipment. This segment provides products and services to commercial utilities and government agencies; and outage and maintenance services, engineering support, instrumentation and controls equipment, plant modification, and components and parts to nuclear reactors. It sells its uranium and fuel services to nuclear utilities in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Cameco Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada.

About Hycroft Mining

Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a gold and silver development company in the United States. The company holds interests in the Hycroft mine that consists of 30 private parcels with patented claims comprising approximately 1,787 acres, and 3,247 unpatented mining claims that encompass approximately 62,298 acres located in the state of Nevada. Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation is based in Winnemucca, Nevada.