Analyzing Lynas Rare Earths (OTCMKTS:LYSDY) and Sibanye Gold (NYSE:SBSW)

Sibanye Gold (NYSE:SBSW) and Lynas Rare Earths (OTCMKTS:LYSDY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Sibanye Gold and Lynas Rare Earths, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sibanye Gold	1	2	1	0	2.00
Lynas Rare Earths	0	1	0	2	3.33

Sibanye Gold presently has a consensus target price of $6.90, suggesting a potential downside of 51.39%. Given Sibanye Gold’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Sibanye Gold is more favorable than Lynas Rare Earths.

Profitability

This table compares Sibanye Gold and Lynas Rare Earths’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sibanye Gold	N/A	N/A	N/A
Lynas Rare Earths	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sibanye Gold and Lynas Rare Earths”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sibanye Gold	$6.12 billion	N/A	-$398.42 million	N/A	N/A
Lynas Rare Earths	$356.61 million	23.40	$5.17 million	N/A	N/A

Lynas Rare Earths has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sibanye Gold.

Volatility and Risk

Sibanye Gold has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lynas Rare Earths has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

34.9% of Sibanye Gold shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Sibanye Gold shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Sibanye Gold beats Lynas Rare Earths on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sibanye Gold

Sibanye Stillwater Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals mining company in South Africa, the United States, Europe, and Australia. The company produces gold; platinum group metals (PGMs), including palladium, platinum, rhodium, iridium, and ruthenium; chrome; nickel; and silver, cobalt, and copper. It owns the East Boulder and Stillwater mines located in Montana, the United States; and Columbus metallurgical complex, which smelts the material mined to produce PGM-rich filter cake, as well as conducts PGM recycling activities. The company also involved in the Kroondal, Rustenburg, Marikana, and Platinum Mile operations situated in South Africa; Mimosa located on the southern portion in Zimbabwe; the Driefontein, Kloof, Rand Refinery, and Cooke surface operations located on the West Rand of the Witwatersrand Basin; and the Beatrix situated in the southern Free State. In addition, it owns an interest in surface tailings retreatment facilities; the Marathon PGM project in Ontario, Canada; the Altar and Rio Grande copper gold projects in the Andes in north-west Argentina; the Hoedspruit; and the Burnstone and southern Free State gold projects in South Africa. Sibanye Stillwater Limited was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Weltevreden Park, South Africa.

About Lynas Rare Earths

Lynas Rare Earths Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, mining, extraction, and processing of rare earth minerals in Australia and Malaysia. The company holds interests in the Mount Weld and Kalgoorlie projects in Western Australia. Its products include lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, and dysprosium. The company also develops and operates advanced material processing and concentration plants, as well as offers corporate services. The company was formerly known as Lynas Corporation Limited and changed its name to Lynas Corporation Limited in November 2020. Lynas Rare Earths Limited was incorporated in 1983 and is based in Perth, Australia.