Critical Comparison: NexGen Energy (NYSE:NXE) versus Sibanye Gold (NYSE:SBSW)

NexGen Energy (NYSE:NXE) and Sibanye Gold (NYSE:SBSW) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

42.4% of NexGen Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.9% of Sibanye Gold shares are held by institutional investors. 5.6% of NexGen Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 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 will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for NexGen Energy and Sibanye Gold, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NexGen Energy	1	1	4	0	2.50
Sibanye Gold	1	2	2	0	2.20

Sibanye Gold has a consensus target price of $19.93, indicating a potential upside of 123.84%. Given Sibanye Gold’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sibanye Gold is more favorable than NexGen Energy.

Volatility & Risk

NexGen Energy has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sibanye Gold has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares NexGen Energy and Sibanye Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NexGen Energy	N/A	-13.11%	-8.91%
Sibanye Gold	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NexGen Energy and Sibanye Gold”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NexGen Energy	N/A	N/A	-$221.63 million	($0.49)	-19.85
Sibanye Gold	$7.25 billion	0.87	-$289.58 million	N/A	N/A

NexGen Energy has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Sibanye Gold.

Summary

NexGen Energy beats Sibanye Gold on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NexGen Energy

NexGen Energy Ltd., an exploration and development stage company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and evaluation and development of uranium properties in Canada. It holds a 100% interest in the Rook I project that consists of 32 contiguous mineral claims totaling an area of 35,065 hectares located in the southwestern Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan. The company is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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.