Analyzing International Tower Hill Mines (NYSE:THM) & Western Copper & Gold (NYSE:WRN)

International Tower Hill Mines (NYSE:THM) and Western Copper & Gold (NYSE:WRN) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for International Tower Hill Mines and Western Copper & Gold, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
International Tower Hill Mines	0	0	0	0	0.00
Western Copper & Gold	0	0	2	1	3.33

Western Copper & Gold has a consensus price target of $4.25, suggesting a potential upside of 39.80%. Given Western Copper & Gold’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Western Copper & Gold is more favorable than International Tower Hill Mines.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.6% of International Tower Hill Mines shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.0% of Western Copper & Gold shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of International Tower Hill Mines shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Western Copper & Gold shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares International Tower Hill Mines and Western Copper & Gold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
International Tower Hill Mines	N/A	-5.82%	-5.80%
Western Copper & Gold	N/A	-3.53%	-3.45%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares International Tower Hill Mines and Western Copper & Gold”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
International Tower Hill Mines	N/A	N/A	-$3.40 million	($0.01)	-192.00
Western Copper & Gold	N/A	N/A	-$2.47 million	($0.01)	-304.00

Western Copper & Gold is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than International Tower Hill Mines, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

International Tower Hill Mines has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Copper & Gold has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Western Copper & Gold beats International Tower Hill Mines on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About International Tower Hill Mines

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. is a Canada-based resource exploration company possessing a portfolio of Alaskan and Nevada based gold and base metal exploration projects. The Company is currently focused on the Livengood Gold Project located in the north of Fairbanks, Alaska. International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Western Copper & Gold

Western Copper & Gold Corp. operates as an exploration stage company, which engages in the acquisition, exploration, and future development of mineral resource properties. It currently focuses on the development of the Casino Project. The company was founded on March 17, 2006 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.