Head-To-Head Analysis: Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) & Trevali Mining (OTCMKTS:TREVF)

Trevali Mining (OTCMKTS:TREVF) and Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.7% of Cleveland-Cliffs shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Cleveland-Cliffs shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Trevali Mining and Cleveland-Cliffs, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Trevali Mining	0	0	0	0	0.00
Cleveland-Cliffs	1	4	4	1	2.50

Cleveland-Cliffs has a consensus price target of $16.54, suggesting a potential upside of 63.97%. Given Cleveland-Cliffs’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cleveland-Cliffs is more favorable than Trevali Mining.

Profitability

This table compares Trevali Mining and Cleveland-Cliffs’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Trevali Mining	-6.08%	-0.96%	-0.41%
Cleveland-Cliffs	-2.31%	-0.59%	-0.26%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Trevali Mining and Cleveland-Cliffs”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Trevali Mining	$288.09 million	0.00	$26.02 million	($0.15)	N/A
Cleveland-Cliffs	$19.19 billion	0.26	$399.00 million	($1.58)	-6.39

Cleveland-Cliffs has higher revenue and earnings than Trevali Mining. Cleveland-Cliffs is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Trevali Mining, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Trevali Mining has a beta of 2.53, suggesting that its share price is 153% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cleveland-Cliffs has a beta of 1.96, suggesting that its share price is 96% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cleveland-Cliffs beats Trevali Mining on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Trevali Mining

Trevali Mining Corporation, a base-metals mining company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development of, and production from mineral properties. It primarily explores for zinc, lead, silver, copper, and gold deposits. The company's operational assets include the 90%-owned Perkoa Mine in Burkina Faso; 90%-owned Rosh Pinah Mine in Namibia; and Caribou Mine in northern New Brunswick, Canada. It also holds interests in the Halfmile, Stratmat, and Restigouche properties situated in New Brunswick, Canada; Gergarub project in Namibia; and Ruttan Mine located in northern Manitoba, Canada. In addition, the company has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Heath Steele deposit located in New Brunswick, Canada. Trevali Mining Corporation was formerly known as Trevali Resources Corp. and changed its name to Trevali Mining Corporation in April 2011. The company was incorporated in 1964 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel company and the largest iron ore pellet producer in North America. The company is vertically integrated from mining through iron making, steelmaking, rolling, finishing and downstream with hot and cold stamping of steel parts and components. The company was formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and changed its name to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. in August 2017. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.