Comparing Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) and Energy Fuels (NYSE:UUUU)

Energy Fuels (NYSE:UUUU) and Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Energy Fuels and Smart Sand, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Energy Fuels	0	2	2	0	2.50
Smart Sand	0	2	0	0	2.00

Energy Fuels presently has a consensus target price of $8.50, indicating a potential upside of 21.78%. Smart Sand has a consensus target price of $2.63, indicating a potential upside of 8.47%. Given Energy Fuels’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Energy Fuels is more favorable than Smart Sand.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Energy Fuels and Smart Sand”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Energy Fuels	$38.66 million	35.50	$99.86 million	($0.22)	-31.73
Smart Sand	$295.97 million	0.35	$4.65 million	($0.14)	-17.28

Energy Fuels has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Smart Sand. Energy Fuels is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smart Sand, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Energy Fuels and Smart Sand’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Energy Fuels	-90.40%	-9.16%	-8.67%
Smart Sand	-1.96%	-1.74%	-1.23%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

48.2% of Energy Fuels shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.2% of Smart Sand shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Energy Fuels shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 32.3% of Smart Sand shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Energy Fuels has a beta of 1.6, meaning that its share price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smart Sand has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

About Energy Fuels

Energy Fuels Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the extraction, recovery, recycling, exploration, permitting, evaluation, and sale of uranium mineral properties in the United States. The company produces and sells vanadium pentoxide, rare earth elements, and heavy mineral sands, such as ilmenite, rutile, zircon, and monazite. The company was formerly known as Volcanic Metals Exploration Inc. and changed its name to Energy Fuels Inc. in May 2006. Energy Fuels Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado.

About Smart Sand

Smart Sand, Inc., an integrated frac and industrial sand supply and services company, engages in the excavation, processing, and sale of sands or proppant for use in hydraulic fracturing operations in the oil and gas industry in the United States. It also provides proppant logistics services; and wellsite storage solutions through SmartSystems products and services. The company sells its products primarily to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, oilfield service companies, and industrial manufacturers. Smart Sand, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.