Contrasting Surge Battery Metals (OTCMKTS:NILIF) and McEwen (NYSE:MUX)

Surge Battery Metals (OTCMKTS:NILIF) and McEwen (NYSE:MUX) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Surge Battery Metals and McEwen, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Surge Battery Metals	0	0	0	0	0.00
McEwen	1	0	5	1	2.86

McEwen has a consensus price target of $20.50, indicating a potential downside of 1.52%. Given McEwen’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe McEwen is more favorable than Surge Battery Metals.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Surge Battery Metals and McEwen”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Surge Battery Metals	N/A	N/A	-$7.19 million	($0.04)	-15.80
McEwen	$174.48 million	6.50	-$43.69 million	($0.22)	-94.62

Surge Battery Metals has higher earnings, but lower revenue than McEwen. McEwen is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Surge Battery Metals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

17.0% of McEwen shares are held by institutional investors. 16.1% of McEwen shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Surge Battery Metals has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, McEwen has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Surge Battery Metals and McEwen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Surge Battery Metals	N/A	-59.46%	-57.62%
McEwen	-7.16%	-2.45%	-1.66%

Summary

McEwen beats Surge Battery Metals on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Surge Battery Metals

Surge Battery Metals Inc., an exploration stage company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in North America. It primarily explores for lithium and nickel. The company's flagship property is the 100% owned Nevada North lithium project consisting of 243 mineral claims located in Elko County, Nevada. The company was formerly known as Copper Creek Gold Corp. and changed its name to Surge Exploration Inc. in April 2018. Surge Battery Metals Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

About McEwen

McEwen Mining Inc. engages in the exploration, development, production, and sale of gold and silver. It also explores for copper deposits. The company owns 100% interests in the El Gallo and Fenix projects located in Mexico; and the Black Fox Mine and Stock Mill, Grey Fox, and Froome and Tamarack properties in Canada. It also owns interests in the Fuller, Davidson-Tisdale, Buffalo Ankerite, and Paymaster exploration properties located in Canada; and a 49% interest in the San José mine located in Argentina. In addition, the company owns 100% interests in the Gold Bar and Tonkin properties located in Eureka County, Nevada; and interests in the Los Azules copper project located in the cordilleran region in the province of San Juan, Argentina. The company was formerly known as US Gold Corporation and changed its name to McEwen Mining Inc. in January 2012. McEwen Mining Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.