Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) & Coeur Mining (NYSE:CDE) Critical Comparison

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) and Coeur Mining (NYSE:CDE) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Southern Copper and Coeur Mining, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern Copper	2	5	0	0	1.71
Coeur Mining	0	0	6	3	3.33

Southern Copper presently has a consensus price target of $91.60, suggesting a potential downside of 10.39%. Coeur Mining has a consensus price target of $9.21, suggesting a potential upside of 0.99%. Given Coeur Mining’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Coeur Mining is more favorable than Southern Copper.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Southern Copper and Coeur Mining”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern Copper	$11.43 billion	7.12	$3.38 billion	$4.57	22.37
Coeur Mining	$1.05 billion	5.54	$58.90 million	$0.26	35.09

Southern Copper has higher revenue and earnings than Coeur Mining. Southern Copper is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Coeur Mining, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Southern Copper and Coeur Mining’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern Copper	30.00%	39.39%	19.21%
Coeur Mining	10.11%	9.96%	5.55%

Volatility and Risk

Southern Copper has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Coeur Mining has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

7.9% of Southern Copper shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.0% of Coeur Mining shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Southern Copper shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Coeur Mining shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Coeur Mining beats Southern Copper on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Southern Copper

Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, and Chile. The company is involved in the mining, milling, and flotation of copper ore to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates; smelting of copper concentrates to produce blister and anode copper; refining of anode copper to produce copper cathodes; production of molybdenum concentrate and sulfuric acid; production of refined silver, gold, and other materials; and mining and processing of zinc, copper, molybdenum, silver, gold, and lead. It operates the Toquepala and Cuajone open-pit mines, and a smelter and refinery in Peru; and La Caridad, an open-pit copper mine, as well as a copper ore concentrator, a SX-EW plant, a smelter, refinery, and a rod plant in Mexico. The company also operates Buenavista, an open-pit copper mine, as well as two copper concentrators and two operating SX-EW plants in Mexico. In addition, it operates underground mines that produce zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold; a coal mine; and a zinc refinery. The company has interests in 156,818 hectares and 502,688 hectares of concessions in Peru and Mexico; and 168,200 hectares and 28,453 hectares of exploration concessions in Argentina and Chile. Southern Copper Corporation was incorporated in 1952 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona. Southern Copper Corporation is a subsidiary of Americas Mining Corporation.

About Coeur Mining

Coeur Mining, Inc. explores for precious metals in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company primarily explores for gold, silver, zinc, and lead properties. It markets and sells its concentrates to third-party customers, smelters, under off-take agreements. The company was formerly known as Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation and changed its name to Coeur Mining, Inc. in May 2013. Coeur Mining, Inc. was incorporated in 1928 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.