Comparing Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) & Coeur Mining (NYSE:CDE)

Coeur Mining (NYSE:CDE) and Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Coeur Mining and Freeport-McMoRan, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Coeur Mining	0	1	6	3	3.20
Freeport-McMoRan	0	9	11	2	2.68

Coeur Mining presently has a consensus price target of $9.79, suggesting a potential downside of 48.03%. Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus price target of $46.47, suggesting a potential upside of 19.56%. Given Freeport-McMoRan’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Freeport-McMoRan is more favorable than Coeur Mining.

Risk & Volatility

Coeur Mining has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Freeport-McMoRan has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its stock price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Coeur Mining and Freeport-McMoRan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Coeur Mining	13.06%	14.38%	8.78%
Freeport-McMoRan	7.45%	7.37%	3.87%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Coeur Mining and Freeport-McMoRan”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Coeur Mining	$1.05 billion	11.48	$58.90 million	$0.37	50.89
Freeport-McMoRan	$25.46 billion	2.19	$1.89 billion	$1.32	29.44

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.0% of Coeur Mining shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Coeur Mining shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Coeur Mining beats Freeport-McMoRan on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.