Energy Fuels (NYSE:UUUU) & Applied Minerals (OTCMKTS:AMNL) Critical Survey

Applied Minerals (OTCMKTS:AMNL) and Energy Fuels (NYSE:UUUU) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Applied Minerals and Energy Fuels, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Applied Minerals	0	0	0	0	0.00
Energy Fuels	0	2	2	0	2.50

Energy Fuels has a consensus price target of $8.50, indicating a potential upside of 45.80%. Given Energy Fuels’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Energy Fuels is more favorable than Applied Minerals.

Profitability

This table compares Applied Minerals and Energy Fuels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Applied Minerals	N/A	N/A	N/A
Energy Fuels	-90.40%	-9.16%	-8.67%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

27.0% of Applied Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.2% of Energy Fuels shares are held by institutional investors. 9.7% of Applied Minerals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Energy Fuels shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Applied Minerals and Energy Fuels”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Applied Minerals	$1.41 million	0.00	-$3.28 million	N/A	N/A
Energy Fuels	$38.66 million	29.75	$99.86 million	($0.22)	-26.50

Energy Fuels has higher revenue and earnings than Applied Minerals.

Volatility and Risk

Applied Minerals has a beta of -0.34, indicating that its stock price is 134% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Energy Fuels has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its stock price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Energy Fuels beats Applied Minerals on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Applied Minerals

Applied Minerals, Inc. extracts, processes, and markets halloysite clay and iron oxide. The company owns the Dragon mine property that consists of 38 patented and 6 unpatented mining claims covering an area of 267 acres located in Juab County, Utah. It provides halloysite clay-based line of products for use in various applications, such as molecular sieves and catalysts, flame retardant additives for plastics, binders for ceramics, nucleation and reinforcement of polymers, paints and coatings, batteries, agriculture, environmental remediation, controlled release carriers cosmetics, and others under the tradename DRAGONITE. The company also offers natural iron oxide-based products for the pigmentary and technical application markets under the trade name AMIRON. It markets and sells its products directly, as well as through employees, agents, and distributors. The company was formerly known as Atlas Mining Company and changed its name to Applied Minerals, Inc. in October 2009. Applied Minerals, Inc. was incorporated in 1924 is based in Eureka, Utah.

About Energy Fuels

Energy Fuels Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the extraction, recovery, recycling, exploration, permitting, evaluation, and sale of uranium mineral properties in the United States. The company produces and sells vanadium pentoxide, rare earth elements, and heavy mineral sands, such as ilmenite, rutile, zircon, and monazite. The company was formerly known as Volcanic Metals Exploration Inc. and changed its name to Energy Fuels Inc. in May 2006. Energy Fuels Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado.