Financial Comparison: Austin Gold (NYSE:AUST) and Namib Minerals (NASDAQ:NAMM)

Namib Minerals (NASDAQ:NAMM) and Austin Gold (NYSE:AUST) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Namib Minerals and Austin Gold, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Namib Minerals	1	0	0	0	1.00
Austin Gold	0	0	0	0	0.00

Volatility and Risk

Namib Minerals has a beta of -0.14, indicating that its stock price is 114% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Austin Gold has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Namib Minerals and Austin Gold”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Namib Minerals	N/A	N/A	-$20.75 million	($1.27)	-0.77
Austin Gold	N/A	N/A	-$4.00 million	($0.14)	-13.29

Austin Gold is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Namib Minerals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Namib Minerals and Austin Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Namib Minerals	N/A	N/A	-56.66%
Austin Gold	N/A	-37.85%	-36.54%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

59.5% of Namib Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.1% of Austin Gold shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.5% of Namib Minerals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 70.7% of Austin Gold shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Austin Gold beats Namib Minerals on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Namib Minerals

Namib Minerals is a gold producer, developer and explorer with operations focused principally in Zimbabwe. Namib Minerals, formerly known as Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. VI, is based in New York.

About Austin Gold

Austin Gold Corp., a gold exploration company, focuses on the acquisition, exploration, and evaluation of mineral property interests in Nevada. The company holds interest in Kelly Creek Project located in the Kelly Creek Basin, in southeastern Humboldt County, Nevada; Fourmile Basin Project that comprises various unpatented lode mining claims covering approximately 6410 acres located in Nye County; the Lone Mountain Project consisting of various unpatented lode mining and patented mining claims located near Lone Mountain in Elko County. It also holds interest in the Miller Project consisting various unpatented lode mining claims located in Elko County in Nevada. Austin Gold Corp. was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.