Financial Contrast: Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) and Gold Resource (NYSE:GORO)

Gold Resource (NYSE:GORO) and Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Gold Resource and Barrick Gold, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gold Resource	0	0	1	0	3.00
Barrick Gold	1	3	9	0	2.62

Gold Resource presently has a consensus price target of $1.50, suggesting a potential upside of 247.62%. Barrick Gold has a consensus price target of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.66%. Given Gold Resource’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Gold Resource is more favorable than Barrick Gold.

Volatility & Risk

Gold Resource has a beta of 1.46, meaning that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barrick Gold has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

18.4% of Gold Resource shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.9% of Barrick Gold shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Gold Resource shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Barrick Gold shares are owned by 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.

Profitability

This table compares Gold Resource and Barrick Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gold Resource	-22.30%	-19.21%	-10.17%
Barrick Gold	12.58%	4.88%	3.40%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Gold Resource and Barrick Gold’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gold Resource	$97.73 million	0.40	-$16.02 million	($0.21)	-2.05
Barrick Gold	$11.40 billion	2.74	$1.27 billion	$0.82	21.70

Barrick Gold has higher revenue and earnings than Gold Resource. Gold Resource is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Barrick Gold, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Barrick Gold beats Gold Resource on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gold Resource

Gold Resource Corporation engages in the exploration, development, and production of gold and silver projects in Mexico and the United States. The company also explores for copper, lead, and zinc deposits. Its principal assets are the 100% owned Don David gold mine and Back Forty project covering approximately 1,304 hectares located in Menominee county, Michigan. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation is a sector-leading gold and copper producer.  Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GOLD and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ABX.
 
In January 2019 Barrick merged with Randgold Resources and in July that year it combined its gold mines in Nevada, USA, with those of Newmont Corporation in a joint venture, Nevada Gold Mines, which is majority-owned and operated by Barrick. Nevada Gold Mines is the world’s largest gold mining complex.  Barrick owns and operates six Tier One gold mines:  Cortez, Carlin and Turquoise Ridge in Nevada, Loulo-Gounkoto in Mali, Kibali in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic.
 
It has gold and copper mines and projects in 13 countries in North and South America, Africa, Papua New Guinea and Saudi Arabia. Barrick’s diversified portfolio spans the world’s most prolific gold districts and is focused on high-margin, long life assets.