Head-To-Head Review: Santacruz Silver Mining (NASDAQ:SCZM) & Ero Copper (NYSE:ERO)

Ero Copper (NYSE:ERO) and Santacruz Silver Mining (NASDAQ:SCZM) are both materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Ero Copper and Santacruz Silver Mining, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ero Copper	1	10	5	2	2.44
Santacruz Silver Mining	0	2	1	0	2.33

Ero Copper presently has a consensus price target of $32.33, indicating a potential downside of 8.88%. Santacruz Silver Mining has a consensus price target of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.63%. Given Santacruz Silver Mining’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Santacruz Silver Mining is more favorable than Ero Copper.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.3% of Ero Copper shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Ero Copper and Santacruz Silver Mining’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ero Copper	29.79%	30.32%	15.17%
Santacruz Silver Mining	9.97%	21.55%	9.49%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ero Copper and Santacruz Silver Mining”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ero Copper	$1.04 billion	3.54	$263.72 million	$2.98	11.91
Santacruz Silver Mining	$423.76 million	2.11	$42.22 million	$0.32	30.16

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

Summary

Ero Copper beats Santacruz Silver Mining on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ero Copper

Ero Copper Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and production of mining projects in Brazil. The company is involved in the production and sale of copper concentrate from the Caraíba operations located in the Curaçá Valley, northeastern Bahia state, Brazil, as well as gold and silver by-products. It also holds 100% interests in the Tucumã project, a copper development project located within southeastern Pará state; and the Xavantina Operations located in Mato Grosso state. Ero Copper Corp. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Santacruz Silver Mining

Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of mineral properties in Mexico. The company primarily explores for silver, as well as for gold, zinc, lead, and copper deposits. It primarily holds a 100% interest in the Rosario project located in the municipality of Charcas in the state of San Luis Potosi; and Veta Grande project that include three concession groups, which consists of 184 mining concessions covering an area of 8,944 hectares in the Zacatecas Mining District, Mexico. The company was formerly known as Forte Resources Inc. and changed its name to Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. in April 2012. Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. Was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.