Critical Analysis: IBC Advanced Alloys (OTCMKTS:IAALF) & Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC)

Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) and IBC Advanced Alloys (OTCMKTS:IAALF) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Lithium Americas has a beta of 1.55, meaning that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IBC Advanced Alloys has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Lithium Americas and IBC Advanced Alloys’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lithium Americas	N/A	-8.50%	-4.12%
IBC Advanced Alloys	-17.02%	-95.16%	-10.44%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Lithium Americas and IBC Advanced Alloys, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lithium Americas	1	8	3	0	2.17
IBC Advanced Alloys	0	0	0	0	0.00

Lithium Americas presently has a consensus target price of $5.81, suggesting a potential upside of 28.45%. Given Lithium Americas’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Lithium Americas is more favorable than IBC Advanced Alloys.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lithium Americas and IBC Advanced Alloys”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lithium Americas	N/A	N/A	-$42.53 million	($1.05)	-4.31
IBC Advanced Alloys	$17.76 million	0.93	-$3.41 million	($0.03)	-4.79

IBC Advanced Alloys has higher revenue and earnings than Lithium Americas. IBC Advanced Alloys is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lithium Americas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Lithium Americas beats IBC Advanced Alloys on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lithium Americas

Lithium Americas Corp. engages in the exploration and development of lithium properties in the United States and Canada. It holds a 100% interest in the Thacker Pass project located in northern Nevada, as well as investments in exploration properties in the United States and Canada. Lithium Americas Corp. was incorporated in 2023 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About IBC Advanced Alloys

IBC Advanced Alloys Corp. develops, produces, and sells specialty alloy products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Copper Alloys and Engineered Materials segments. It offers various copper alloys as castings and forgings, such as beryllium copper, chrome copper, oxygen-free high conductivity copper, and aluminum bronze in the form of plates, blocks, rounds, discs, bars, rings, tubes, rods, and other custom forgings, as well as specialty copper alloy forgings for plastic mold tooling and resistance welding applications. The company also provides beryllium-aluminum castings, beryllium-aluminum alloys, beryllium-copper alloys, high-strength beryllium-copper casting alloys, high-conductivity beryllium-copper casting alloys, and beryllium-nickel casting alloys. In addition, it manufactures Thermal-Mold Super, a beryllium-free mold alloy of copper-nickel-silicon-chrome, as well as provides tolling services and consulting. It serves automotive, defense, resistance welding, electronics, industrial equipment, injection molding, foundry, aerospace, and oil and gas industries. The company was formerly known as International Beryllium Corporation and changed its name to IBC Advanced Alloys Corp. in March 2009. IBC Advanced Alloys Corp. is headquartered in Franklin, Indiana.