Financial Analysis: Lithium Americas (Argentina) (LAAC) versus Its Rivals

Lithium Americas (Argentina) (NYSE:LAAC) is one of 89 public companies in the “Metal mining” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Lithium Americas (Argentina) to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Lithium Americas (Argentina) and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	N/A	-0.05%	-0.04%
Lithium Americas (Argentina) Competitors	-361.16%	-3.43%	-4.17%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Lithium Americas (Argentina) and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	0	2	3	0	2.60
Lithium Americas (Argentina) Competitors	1007	2116	2583	83	2.30

Lithium Americas (Argentina) presently has a consensus price target of $12.20, suggesting a potential upside of 99.35%. As a group, “Metal mining” companies have a potential upside of 57.24%. Given Lithium Americas (Argentina)’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Lithium Americas (Argentina) is more favorable than its competitors.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lithium Americas (Argentina) and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lithium Americas (Argentina)	N/A	-$93.57 million	25.87
Lithium Americas (Argentina) Competitors	$7.61 billion	$1.66 billion	3.27

Lithium Americas (Argentina)’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Lithium Americas (Argentina). Lithium Americas (Argentina) is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

27.3% of Lithium Americas (Argentina) shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.1% of shares of all “Metal mining” companies are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of Lithium Americas (Argentina) shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of shares of all “Metal mining” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Lithium Americas (Argentina) has a beta of 1.46, suggesting that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lithium Americas (Argentina)’s competitors have a beta of 0.41, suggesting that their average stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lithium Americas (Argentina) beats its competitors on 10 of the 13 factors compared.

Lithium Americas (Argentina) Company Profile

Lithium Americas (Argentina) Corp. operates as a resource company. The company explores for lithium deposits. It owns interests in the Cauchari-Olaroz project located in Jujuy province of Argentina; and Pastos Grandes project located in the Salta province of Argentina. Lithium Americas (Argentina) Corp. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.