Reviewing Energy Fuels (NYSE:UUUU) and Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND)

Energy Fuels (NYSE:UUUU) and Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

48.2% of Energy Fuels shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.2% of Smart Sand shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Energy Fuels shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.3% of Smart Sand shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Energy Fuels and Smart Sand, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Energy Fuels	0	2	2	0	2.50
Smart Sand	0	2	0	0	2.00

Energy Fuels currently has a consensus price target of $8.50, suggesting a potential upside of 20.14%. Smart Sand has a consensus price target of $2.63, suggesting a potential upside of 13.39%. Given Energy Fuels’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Energy Fuels is more favorable than Smart Sand.

Risk & Volatility

Energy Fuels has a beta of 1.6, indicating that its share price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smart Sand has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Energy Fuels and Smart Sand”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Energy Fuels	$37.93 million	36.22	$99.86 million	($0.22)	-32.16
Smart Sand	$295.97 million	0.34	$4.65 million	($0.14)	-16.53

Energy Fuels has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Smart Sand. Energy Fuels is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smart Sand, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Energy Fuels and Smart Sand’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Energy Fuels	-90.40%	-9.16%	-8.67%
Smart Sand	-1.96%	-1.74%	-1.23%

About Energy Fuels

Energy Fuels Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the extraction, recovery, recycling, exploration, permitting, evaluation, and sale of uranium mineral properties in the United States. The company produces and sells vanadium pentoxide, rare earth elements, and heavy mineral sands, such as ilmenite, rutile, zircon, and monazite. The company was formerly known as Volcanic Metals Exploration Inc. and changed its name to Energy Fuels Inc. in May 2006. Energy Fuels Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado.

About Smart Sand

Smart Sand, Inc., an integrated frac and industrial sand supply and services company, engages in the excavation, processing, and sale of sands or proppant for use in hydraulic fracturing operations in the oil and gas industry in the United States. It also provides proppant logistics services; and wellsite storage solutions through SmartSystems products and services. The company sells its products primarily to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, oilfield service companies, and industrial manufacturers. Smart Sand, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.