AngloGold Ashanti (AU) Competitors

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) and AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and valuation.

Do analysts rate RGLD or AU?

Royal Gold currently has a consensus price target of $192.13, suggesting a potential upside of 24.14%. AngloGold Ashanti has a consensus price target of $45.08, suggesting a potential downside of 5.25%. Given Royal Gold's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Royal Gold is more favorable than AngloGold Ashanti.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Royal Gold	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
AngloGold Ashanti	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57

Is RGLD or AU more profitable?

Royal Gold has a net margin of 52.15% compared to AngloGold Ashanti's net margin of 21.09%. AngloGold Ashanti's return on equity of 21.18% beat Royal Gold's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Royal Gold	52.15%	12.48%	11.52%
AngloGold Ashanti	21.09%	21.18%	12.29%

Does the media refer more to RGLD or AU?

In the previous week, AngloGold Ashanti had 1 more articles in the media than Royal Gold. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for AngloGold Ashanti and 13 mentions for Royal Gold. Royal Gold's average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat AngloGold Ashanti's score of 0.81 indicating that Royal Gold is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Royal Gold	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AngloGold Ashanti	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in RGLD or AU?

83.7% of Royal Gold shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.1% of AngloGold Ashanti shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Royal Gold shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is RGLD or AU a better dividend stock?

Royal Gold pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. AngloGold Ashanti pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Royal Gold pays out 29.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AngloGold Ashanti pays out 16.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Royal Gold has increased its dividend for 25 consecutive years. Royal Gold is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, RGLD or AU?

AngloGold Ashanti has higher revenue and earnings than Royal Gold. AngloGold Ashanti is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Royal Gold, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Royal Gold	$719.40M	14.16	$332.02M	$6.04	25.62
AngloGold Ashanti	$5.79B	3.45	$1.00B	$3.04	15.65

Which has more volatility & risk, RGLD or AU?

Royal Gold has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AngloGold Ashanti has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Royal Gold beats AngloGold Ashanti on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.