Analyzing Golden Minerals (NYSE:AUMN) & Black Hawk Exploration (OTCMKTS:BHWX)

Black Hawk Exploration (OTCMKTS:BHWX) and Golden Minerals (NYSE:AUMN) are both mining companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.4% of Golden Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of Golden Minerals shares are owned 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Black Hawk Exploration and Golden Minerals”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Black Hawk Exploration	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Golden Minerals	$300,000.00	13.54	-$9.23 million	($0.52)	-0.52

Black Hawk Exploration has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Golden Minerals.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Black Hawk Exploration and Golden Minerals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Black Hawk Exploration	0	0	0	0	0.00
Golden Minerals	0	0	1	0	3.00

Golden Minerals has a consensus target price of $1.50, suggesting a potential upside of 455.14%. Given Golden Minerals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Golden Minerals is more favorable than Black Hawk Exploration.

Profitability

This table compares Black Hawk Exploration and Golden Minerals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Black Hawk Exploration	N/A	N/A	N/A
Golden Minerals	N/A	-1,051.75%	-57.22%

Summary

Golden Minerals beats Black Hawk Exploration on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Black Hawk Exploration

Black Hawk Exploration (Black Hawk) is an exploration-stage company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition of and exploration of mining properties. It is a diversified energy and metals exploration company focused on identifying and exploring properties and developing new prospective projects globally. On December 8, 2009 the Company formed a wholly owned Nevada subsidiary, Golden Black Hawk, Inc.

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.