AngloGold Ashanti (AU) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend AU or RGLD?

AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus price target of $49.60, indicating a potential downside of 12.59%. Royal Gold has a consensus price target of $198.63, indicating a potential upside of 10.45%. Given Royal Gold's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Royal Gold is more favorable than AngloGold Ashanti.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AngloGold Ashanti	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Royal Gold	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63

Is AU or RGLD more profitable?

Royal Gold has a net margin of 56.24% compared to AngloGold Ashanti's net margin of 23.60%. AngloGold Ashanti's return on equity of 22.54% beat Royal Gold's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AngloGold Ashanti	23.60%	22.54%	13.96%
Royal Gold	56.24%	13.30%	12.32%

Is AU or RGLD a better dividend stock?

AngloGold Ashanti pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Royal Gold pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. AngloGold Ashanti pays out 85.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Royal Gold pays out 26.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Royal Gold has increased its dividend for 25 consecutive years.

Which has more risk & volatility, AU or RGLD?

AngloGold Ashanti has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Royal Gold has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, AU or RGLD?

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
AngloGold Ashanti	$7.65B	3.11	$1.00B	$3.76	15.09
Royal Gold	$799.48M	14.81	$332.02M	$6.82	26.37

Does the media prefer AU or RGLD?

In the previous week, Royal Gold had 8 more articles in the media than AngloGold Ashanti. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Royal Gold and 13 mentions for AngloGold Ashanti. AngloGold Ashanti's average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat Royal Gold's score of 1.27 indicating that AngloGold Ashanti is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AngloGold Ashanti	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Royal Gold	18 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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

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

Summary

Royal Gold beats AngloGold Ashanti on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.