Critical Survey: Pacific Booker Minerals (OTCMKTS:PBMLF) & NioCorp Developments (NASDAQ:NB)

Pacific Booker Minerals (OTCMKTS:PBMLF) and NioCorp Developments (NASDAQ:NB) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Pacific Booker Minerals and NioCorp Developments”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pacific Booker Minerals	N/A	N/A	-$390,000.00	($0.03)	-21.83
NioCorp Developments	N/A	N/A	-$11.44 million	($0.77)	-2.29

Pacific Booker Minerals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NioCorp Developments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Pacific Booker Minerals and NioCorp Developments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pacific Booker Minerals	N/A	-386.41%	-81.34%
NioCorp Developments	N/A	-1,273.17%	-140.97%

Risk and Volatility

Pacific Booker Minerals has a beta of -0.1, indicating that its stock price is 110% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NioCorp Developments has a beta of -0.32, indicating that its stock price is 132% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

4.0% of NioCorp Developments shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.3% of Pacific Booker Minerals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 19.1% of NioCorp Developments 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Pacific Booker Minerals and NioCorp Developments, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pacific Booker Minerals	0	0	0	0	0.00
NioCorp Developments	0	0	2	0	3.00

NioCorp Developments has a consensus price target of $3.63, indicating a potential upside of 105.97%. Given NioCorp Developments’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe NioCorp Developments is more favorable than Pacific Booker Minerals.

Summary

Pacific Booker Minerals beats NioCorp Developments on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pacific Booker Minerals

Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. engages in the exploration of mineral properties in Canada. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, and molybdenum deposits. It holds interests in the Morrison property located in British Columbia. The company was formerly known as Booker Gold Explorations Limited and changed its name to Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. in February 2000. Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About NioCorp Developments

NioCorp Developments Ltd. engages in the exploration and development of mineral deposits in North America. It owns and develops the Elk Creek niobium/scandium/titanium project that owns one 226.43-acre parcel of land and associated mineral rights, and an additional 40 acres of mineral rights, as well as an optioned land package that covers an area of 1,396 acres located in Johnson County, southeast Nebraska. The company was formerly known as Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. and changed its name to NioCorp Developments Ltd. in March 2013. NioCorp Developments Ltd. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.