Searchlight Minerals (OTCMKTS:SRCH – Get Free Report) and First Quantum Minerals (OTCMKTS:FQVLF – Get Free Report) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.
Profitability
This table compares Searchlight Minerals and First Quantum Minerals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Searchlight Minerals | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| First Quantum Minerals | 10.31% | 5.37% | 2.65% |
Risk & Volatility
Searchlight Minerals has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Quantum Minerals has a beta of 1.96, meaning that its stock price is 96% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Searchlight Minerals and First Quantum Minerals, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Searchlight Minerals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| First Quantum Minerals | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2.18 |
First Quantum Minerals has a consensus target price of $32.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.46%. Given First Quantum Minerals’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Quantum Minerals is more favorable than Searchlight Minerals.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Searchlight Minerals and First Quantum Minerals’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Searchlight Minerals | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| First Quantum Minerals | $7.63 billion | 2.37 | $1.03 billion | $1.04 | 25.13 |
First Quantum Minerals has higher revenue and earnings than Searchlight Minerals.
Summary
First Quantum Minerals beats Searchlight Minerals on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Searchlight Minerals
Searchlight Minerals Corp., an exploration stage company, engages in a slag reprocessing project; and the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in the United States. It holds interests in the Clarkdale slag project, located in Clarkdale, Arizona, which is a reclamation project to recover precious and base metals from the reprocessing of slag produced from the smelting of copper ore mined at the United Verde Copper Mine in Jerome, Arizona. The company was formerly known as Phage Genomics, Inc and changed its name to Searchlight Minerals Corp. in June 2005. Searchlight Minerals Corp. was founded in 1999 and is based in Henderson, Nevada.
About First Quantum Minerals
First Quantum Minerals Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral properties. It primarily explores for copper, nickel, pyrite, gold, silver, and zinc ores, as well as produces acid. The company has operating mines located in Zambia, Panama, Finland, Turkey, Spain, Australia, and Mauritania, as well as a development project in Zambia. It is exploring the Taca Taca copper-gold-molybdenum project in Argentina, as well as the Haquira copper deposit in Peru. The company was formerly known as First Quantum Ventures Ltd. and changed its name to First Quantum Minerals Ltd. in July 1996. The company was incorporated in 1983 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.
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