Critical Comparison: B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) & Rare Element Resources (OTCMKTS:REEMF)

Rare Element Resources (OTCMKTS:REEMF) and B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Rare Element Resources and B2Gold, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rare Element Resources	0	0	0	0	0.00
B2Gold	0	5	1	0	2.17

B2Gold has a consensus target price of $4.12, indicating a potential upside of 57.73%. Given B2Gold’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe B2Gold is more favorable than Rare Element Resources.

Risk & Volatility

Rare Element Resources has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, B2Gold has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Rare Element Resources and B2Gold”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rare Element Resources	N/A	N/A	-$9.00 million	($0.03)	-14.00
B2Gold	$1.91 billion	1.79	$10.10 million	($0.56)	-4.66

B2Gold has higher revenue and earnings than Rare Element Resources. Rare Element Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than B2Gold, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

61.4% of B2Gold shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Rare Element Resources shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of B2Gold shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Rare Element Resources and B2Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rare Element Resources	N/A	-55.37%	-50.17%
B2Gold	-38.42%	7.53%	5.56%

Summary

B2Gold beats Rare Element Resources on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rare Element Resources

Rare Element Resources Ltd. engages in the exploration of mineral properties in the United States and Canada. It holds 100% interest in the Bear Lodge property that comprises the Bear Lodge REE project; and the Sundance Gold project located in Crook County, northeast Wyoming. Rare Element Resources Ltd. is headquartered in Littleton, Colorado.

About B2Gold

B2Gold Corp. operates as a gold producer company. It operates the Fekola Mine in Mali, the Masbate Mine in the Philippines, and the Otjikoto Mine in Namibia. The company also has an 100% interest in the Gramalote gold project in Colombia; 24% interest in the Calibre Mining Corp.; and approximately 19% interest in BeMetals Corp. In addition, it has a portfolio of other evaluation and exploration assets in Mali and Finland. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.