Lithium Argentina (LAR) Competitors

Lithium Argentina (NYSE:LAR) and Metals Acquisition (NYSE:MTAL) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, community ranking, institutional ownership and earnings.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer LAR or MTAL?

Metals Acquisition received 8 more outperform votes than Lithium Argentina when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 66.67% of users gave Lithium Argentina an outperform vote while only 62.50% of users gave Metals Acquisition an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Lithium Argentina	Outperform Votes 2 66.67%	Underperform Votes 1 33.33%
Metals Acquisition	Outperform Votes 10 62.50%	Underperform Votes 6 37.50%

Is LAR or MTAL more profitable?

Metals Acquisition's return on equity of 0.00% beat Lithium Argentina's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lithium Argentina	N/A	-1.37%	-1.08%
Metals Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of LAR or MTAL?

49.2% of Lithium Argentina shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.5% of Metals Acquisition shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.8% of Lithium Argentina shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Metals Acquisition shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate LAR or MTAL?

Lithium Argentina presently has a consensus target price of $3.25, indicating a potential upside of 62.09%. Metals Acquisition has a consensus target price of $12.63, indicating a potential upside of 3.61%. Given Lithium Argentina's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lithium Argentina is more favorable than Metals Acquisition.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lithium Argentina	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Metals Acquisition	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media prefer LAR or MTAL?

In the previous week, Metals Acquisition had 2 more articles in the media than Lithium Argentina. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Metals Acquisition and 1 mentions for Lithium Argentina. Metals Acquisition's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat Lithium Argentina's score of 0.00 indicating that Metals Acquisition is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lithium Argentina	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Metals Acquisition	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, LAR or MTAL?

Lithium Argentina has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Metals Acquisition.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lithium Argentina	N/A	N/A	$1.29B	-$0.07	-28.64
Metals Acquisition	$340.74M	2.95	-$144.55M	N/A	N/A

Which has more volatility & risk, LAR or MTAL?

Lithium Argentina has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Metals Acquisition has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lithium Argentina and Metals Acquisition tied by winning 7 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.