Reviewing U.S. Gold (NASDAQ:USAU) and New Gold (NYSE:NGD)

New Gold (NYSE:NGD) and U.S. Gold (NASDAQ:USAU) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares New Gold and U.S. Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
New Gold	11.10%	13.70%	6.31%
U.S. Gold	N/A	-59.61%	-42.24%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

42.8% of New Gold shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.6% of U.S. Gold shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of New Gold shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of U.S. Gold 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares New Gold and U.S. Gold”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
New Gold	$924.50 million	2.77	-$64.50 million	$0.13	24.92
U.S. Gold	N/A	N/A	-$6.90 million	($1.36)	-6.31

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

Risk & Volatility

New Gold has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, U.S. Gold has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for New Gold and U.S. Gold, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
New Gold	0	2	6	2	3.00
U.S. Gold	0	0	2	1	3.33

New Gold presently has a consensus target price of $3.78, suggesting a potential upside of 16.62%. U.S. Gold has a consensus target price of $11.50, suggesting a potential upside of 34.03%. Given U.S. Gold’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe U.S. Gold is more favorable than New Gold.

Summary

New Gold beats U.S. Gold on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About New Gold

New Gold Inc., an intermediate gold mining company, develops and operates of mineral properties in Canada. It primarily explores for gold, silver, and copper deposits. The company’s principal operating properties include 100% interest in the Rainy River mine located in Northwestern Ontario, Canada; and New Afton project situated in South-Central British Columbia. New Gold Inc. is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About U.S. Gold

U.S. Gold Corp. engages in the exploration and development of gold and precious metals in the United States. It also explores for copper and silver deposits. The company holds 100% interests in the CK Gold project, which consists of various mining leases and other mineral rights covering approximately 1,120 acres in Laramie County, Wyoming; the Keystone project that consists of 601 unpatented lode mining claims covering approximately 20 square miles in Eureka County, Nevada; and the Challis Gold project, which consists of 77 unpatented lode mining claims covering approximately 1,710 acres in Lemhi County, Idaho. It also has earn-in agreement to acquire a 50% ownership interest in the Maggie Creek project located in Eureka County, Nevada. The company was formerly known as Dataram Corporation and changed its name to U.S. Gold Corp. in June 2017. U.S. Gold Corp. is based in Elko, Nevada.