Analyzing NioCorp Developments (NASDAQ:NB) & Cameco (NYSE:CCJ)

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

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares NioCorp Developments and Cameco”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NioCorp Developments	N/A	N/A	-$17.41 million	($0.68)	-7.81
Cameco	$2.49 billion	18.63	$421.96 million	$1.08	98.68

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

Profitability

This table compares NioCorp Developments and Cameco’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NioCorp Developments	N/A	-12.69%	-11.11%
Cameco	18.38%	11.05%	7.65%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

4.0% of NioCorp Developments shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.2% of Cameco shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.2% of NioCorp Developments shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Cameco shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for NioCorp Developments and Cameco, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NioCorp Developments	1	1	4	0	2.50
Cameco	0	5	11	0	2.69

NioCorp Developments currently has a consensus target price of $8.93, suggesting a potential upside of 68.08%. Cameco has a consensus target price of $147.42, suggesting a potential upside of 38.33%. Given NioCorp Developments’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe NioCorp Developments is more favorable than Cameco.

Risk and Volatility

NioCorp Developments has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cameco has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cameco beats NioCorp Developments on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NioCorp Developments

NioCorp Developments Ltd. engages in the exploration and development of mineral deposits in North America. It owns and develops the Elk Creek niobium/scandium/titanium project that owns one 226.43-acre parcel of land and associated mineral rights, and an additional 40 acres of mineral rights, as well as an optioned land package that covers an area of 1,396 acres located in Johnson County, southeast Nebraska. The company was formerly known as Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. and changed its name to NioCorp Developments Ltd. in March 2013. NioCorp Developments Ltd. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.

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.