Critical Contrast: Golden Minerals (NYSE:AUMN) & American International Ventures (OTCMKTS:AIVN)

Golden Minerals (NYSE:AUMN) and American International Ventures (OTCMKTS:AIVN) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Golden Minerals and American International Ventures, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Golden Minerals	0	0	1	0	3.00
American International Ventures	0	0	0	0	0.00

Golden Minerals currently has a consensus target price of $1.50, indicating a potential upside of 466.04%. Given Golden Minerals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Golden Minerals is more favorable than American International Ventures.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Golden Minerals and American International Ventures”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Golden Minerals	$12.00 million	0.33	-$9.23 million	($0.52)	-0.51
American International Ventures	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

American International Ventures has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Golden Minerals.

Profitability

This table compares Golden Minerals and American International Ventures’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Golden Minerals	N/A	-1,051.75%	-57.22%
American International Ventures	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

13.4% of Golden Minerals shares are held by institutional investors. 3.2% of Golden Minerals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Golden Minerals beats American International Ventures on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Golden Minerals

Golden Minerals Company, a precious metals exploration company explores for mineral properties in Argentina, Nevada, and Mexico. It explores for gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, and other minerals. The company was formerly known as Apex Silver Mines Limited and changed its name to Golden Minerals Company in March 2009. Golden Minerals Company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Golden, Colorado.

About American International Ventures

American International Ventures, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and extraction of precious metals, gold, and silver properties located in the Baja California, Mexico. Its flagship mining property is the Mother Lode property located in Baja California, Mexico. The company was formerly known as American Global Enterprises, Inc. and it changed its name to American International Ventures, Inc. in December 2000. American International Ventures, Inc. was founded in 2012 and is based in Lithia, Florida.