Contrasting Fortuna Silver Mines (NYSE:FSM) & Aris Mining (NYSE:ARMN)

Aris Mining (NYSE:ARMN) and Fortuna Silver Mines (NYSE:FSM) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Aris Mining and Fortuna Silver Mines, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aris Mining	0	0	0	0	0.00
Fortuna Silver Mines	0	1	0	0	2.00

Fortuna Silver Mines has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 39.70%. Given Fortuna Silver Mines’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fortuna Silver Mines is more favorable than Aris Mining.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Aris Mining and Fortuna Silver Mines”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aris Mining	$447.67 million	1.41	$11.42 million	($0.02)	-184.50
Fortuna Silver Mines	$842.43 million	1.57	-$50.84 million	$0.08	53.69

Aris Mining has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Fortuna Silver Mines. Aris Mining is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fortuna Silver Mines, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Aris Mining and Fortuna Silver Mines’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aris Mining	-0.66%	4.97%	2.70%
Fortuna Silver Mines	2.45%	10.08%	6.87%

Volatility and Risk

Aris Mining has a beta of 0.15, suggesting that its stock price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fortuna Silver Mines has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its stock price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

35.8% of Aris Mining shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.8% of Fortuna Silver Mines shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Fortuna Silver Mines shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Fortuna Silver Mines beats Aris Mining on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aris Mining

Aris Mining Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of gold properties in Canada, Colombia, and Guyana. It also explores for silver and copper deposits. The company was formerly known as GCM Mining Corp. and changed its name to Aris Mining Corporation in September 2022. Aris Mining Corporation is based in Vancouver, Canada.

About Fortuna Silver Mines

Fortuna Mining Corp. engages in the precious and base metal mining in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Mexico, Peru, and Côte d’Ivoire. It operates through Mansfield, Sanu, Sango, Cuzcatlan, Bateas, and Corporate segments. The company primarily explores for silver, lead, zinc, and gold. Its flagship project is the Séguéla gold mine, which consists of approximately 62,000 hectares and is located in the Worodougou Region of the Woroba District, Côte d’Ivoire. The company was formerly known as Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. and changed its name to Fortuna Mining Corp. in June 2024. Fortuna Mining Corp. was incorporated in 1990 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.