Financial Survey: Austin Gold (NYSE:AUST) and Golden Minerals (NYSE:AUMN)

Golden Minerals (NYSE:AUMN) and Austin Gold (NYSE:AUST) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Golden Minerals has a beta of 0.24, indicating that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Austin Gold has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Golden Minerals and Austin Gold”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Golden Minerals	$12.00 million	0.12	-$9.23 million	($0.52)	-0.18
Austin Gold	N/A	N/A	-$4.00 million	($0.31)	-4.55

Austin Gold has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Golden Minerals. Austin Gold is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Golden Minerals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Golden Minerals and Austin Gold, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Golden Minerals	0	0	1	0	3.00
Austin Gold	0	0	0	0	0.00

Golden Minerals currently has a consensus target price of $1.50, indicating a potential upside of 1,526.90%. Given Golden Minerals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Golden Minerals is more favorable than Austin Gold.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.4% of Golden Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.1% of Austin Gold shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of Golden Minerals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 70.7% of Austin Gold shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Golden Minerals and Austin Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Golden Minerals	N/A	-1,051.75%	-57.22%
Austin Gold	N/A	-37.85%	-36.54%

Summary

Austin Gold beats Golden Minerals on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Golden Minerals

Golden Minerals Company, a precious metals exploration company explores for mineral properties in Argentina, Nevada, and Mexico. It explores for gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, and other minerals. The company was formerly known as Apex Silver Mines Limited and changed its name to Golden Minerals Company in March 2009. Golden Minerals Company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Golden, Colorado.

About Austin Gold

Austin Gold Corp., a gold exploration company, focuses on the acquisition, exploration, and evaluation of mineral property interests in Nevada. The company holds interest in Kelly Creek Project located in the Kelly Creek Basin, in southeastern Humboldt County, Nevada; Fourmile Basin Project that comprises various unpatented lode mining claims covering approximately 6410 acres located in Nye County; the Lone Mountain Project consisting of various unpatented lode mining and patented mining claims located near Lone Mountain in Elko County. It also holds interest in the Miller Project consisting various unpatented lode mining claims located in Elko County in Nevada. Austin Gold Corp. was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.