Reviewing Fortuna Silver Mines (NYSE:FSM) and B2Gold (NYSE:BTG)

Fortuna Silver Mines (NYSE:FSM – Get Rating) and B2Gold (NYSE:BTG – Get Rating) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Fortuna Silver Mines has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, B2Gold has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Fortuna Silver Mines and B2Gold’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fortuna Silver Mines	$599.85 million	1.65	$59.40 million	$0.14	24.36
B2Gold	$1.73 billion	2.17	$252.87 million	$0.25	14.00

B2Gold has higher revenue and earnings than Fortuna Silver Mines. B2Gold is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fortuna Silver Mines, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

26.8% of Fortuna Silver Mines shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.2% of B2Gold shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Fortuna Silver Mines shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of B2Gold shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Fortuna Silver Mines and B2Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fortuna Silver Mines	5.76%	4.63%	3.27%
B2Gold	14.60%	8.71%	7.35%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Fortuna Silver Mines and B2Gold, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fortuna Silver Mines	0	0	1	0	3.00
B2Gold	0	0	0	0	N/A

Fortuna Silver Mines currently has a consensus target price of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 75.95%. Given Fortuna Silver Mines’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Fortuna Silver Mines is more favorable than B2Gold.

Summary

B2Gold beats Fortuna Silver Mines on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fortuna Silver Mines

(Get Rating)

Fortuna Silver Mines, Inc. engages in the exploration, extraction and processing of precious and base metal in Latin America. It operates through the following segments: Minera Bateas S.A.C (Bateas), Compania Minera Cuzcatlan S.A. de C.V. (Cuzcatian), Mansfield Minera S.A. (Mansfield), and Corporate. The Beates segment operates the Caylloma silver, lead, and zinc mine. The Cuzcatlan segment handles the San Jose silver-gold mine. The Mansfield segment constructs the Lindero mine. The Corporate segment represents the corporate stewardship. The company was founded by Jorge Alberto Ganoza Durant, Simon T. P. Ridgway, and Mario David Szotlender on September 4, 1990 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About B2Gold

(Get Rating)

B2Gold Corp. is an exploration company, which engages in the acquisition and development of mineral properties. It operates through the following segments: Fekola Mine, Otjikoto Mine, Masbate Mine, Libertad Mine, and Limon Mine. The company was founded by Mark Anthony Corra, Thomas A. Garagan, Clive Thomas Johnson and Roger Thomas Richer on November 30, 2006 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.