New Gold (NYSE:NGD) and American Lithium Minerals (OTCMKTS:AMLM) Critical Contrast

New Gold (NYSE:NGD) and American Lithium Minerals (OTCMKTS:AMLM) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares New Gold and American Lithium Minerals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
New Gold	11.10%	13.70%	6.31%
American Lithium Minerals	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for New Gold and American Lithium Minerals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
New Gold	0	1	4	2	3.14
American Lithium Minerals	0	0	0	0	0.00

New Gold presently has a consensus target price of $3.60, suggesting a potential upside of 33.33%. Given New Gold’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe New Gold is more favorable than American Lithium Minerals.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

42.8% of New Gold shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of New Gold shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

New Gold has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Lithium Minerals has a beta of -1, meaning that its stock price is 200% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares New Gold and American Lithium Minerals”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
New Gold	$924.50 million	2.31	-$64.50 million	$0.13	20.77
American Lithium Minerals	$90,000.00	21.38	N/A	N/A	N/A

American Lithium Minerals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than New Gold.

Summary

New Gold beats American Lithium Minerals on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About New Gold

New Gold Inc., an intermediate gold mining company, develops and operates of mineral properties in Canada. It primarily explores for gold, silver, and copper deposits. The company’s principal operating properties include 100% interest in the Rainy River mine located in Northwestern Ontario, Canada; and New Afton project situated in South-Central British Columbia. New Gold Inc. is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About American Lithium Minerals

American Lithium Minerals, Inc., engages in mineral exploration for lithium and rare earth minerals in the United States. The company's properties include Stonewall Flat Lithium project that covers an area of approximately 1,250 acres on Stonewall Playa in Nevada's Lida Valley Basin; and Kingman Rare Earth project comprising two individual properties, which include Kingman Feldspar Mine and the Mineral X property. It also holds interest in Silver Peak Lithium, a claystone lithium prospect comprising 24 lode mining claims located in Esmeralda County; and West End Lithium property that comprises 24 lode mining claims located in Nye County, Nevada. The company was formerly known as Nugget Resources Inc. and changed its name to American Lithium Minerals, Inc. in March 2009. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada..