Reviewing Wealth Minerals (OTCMKTS:WMLLF) and Lithium Americas (Argentina) (NYSE:LAAC)

Wealth Minerals (OTCMKTS:WMLLF) and Lithium Americas (Argentina) (NYSE:LAAC) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Wealth Minerals and Lithium Americas (Argentina)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wealth Minerals	N/A	-21.47%	-21.11%
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	N/A	-0.25%	-0.20%

Risk and Volatility

Wealth Minerals has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lithium Americas (Argentina) has a beta of 1.33, meaning that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Wealth Minerals and Lithium Americas (Argentina), as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wealth Minerals	0	0	0	0	N/A
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	0	4	3	1	2.63

Lithium Americas (Argentina) has a consensus target price of $7.05, indicating a potential upside of 103.76%. Given Lithium Americas (Argentina)’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Lithium Americas (Argentina) is more favorable than Wealth Minerals.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.1% of Wealth Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.2% of Lithium Americas (Argentina) shares are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of Lithium Americas (Argentina) shares are held by company 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Wealth Minerals and Lithium Americas (Argentina)”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wealth Minerals	N/A	N/A	-$7.73 million	($0.04)	-1.65
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	N/A	N/A	$1.29 billion	$7.99	0.43

Wealth Minerals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lithium Americas (Argentina), indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Lithium Americas (Argentina) beats Wealth Minerals on 11 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Wealth Minerals

Wealth Minerals Ltd., a junior mineral resource exploration company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Canada, Chile, Peru, and Mexico. The company primarily explores for lithium, as well as for precious metal and copper deposits. Its flagship property is the 100% owned Atacama project that comprises 144 exploration concessions covering an area of approximately 46,200 hectares located in the Atacama Salar in Region II of Antofagasta, northern Chile. Wealth Minerals Ltd. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Lithium Americas (Argentina)

Lithium Americas (Argentina) Corp. operates as a resource company. The company explores for lithium deposits. The company owns interests in the Cauchari-Olaroz project located in Jujuy province of Argentina. It also has a pipeline of development and exploration stage projects, including the Pastos Grandes project and the Sal de la Puna project located in Salta Province in northwestern Argentina. Lithium Americas (Argentina) Corp. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.