Pan American Silver (PAAS) Competitors

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) and Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Do analysts rate PAAS or WPM?

Pan American Silver presently has a consensus price target of $30.60, suggesting a potential upside of 7.78%. Wheaton Precious Metals has a consensus price target of $92.75, suggesting a potential upside of 3.16%. Given Pan American Silver's higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Pan American Silver is more favorable than Wheaton Precious Metals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pan American Silver	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Wheaton Precious Metals	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.10

Which has more volatility & risk, PAAS or WPM?

Pan American Silver has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wheaton Precious Metals has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PAAS or WPM a better dividend stock?

Pan American Silver pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Wheaton Precious Metals pays an annual dividend of $0.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Pan American Silver pays out 46.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wheaton Precious Metals pays out 48.5% 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. Pan American Silver has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Wheaton Precious Metals has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Pan American Silver is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media refer more to PAAS or WPM?

In the previous week, Wheaton Precious Metals had 14 more articles in the media than Pan American Silver. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Wheaton Precious Metals and 7 mentions for Pan American Silver. Wheaton Precious Metals' average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Pan American Silver's score of 0.77 indicating that Wheaton Precious Metals is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Pan American Silver	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Wheaton Precious Metals	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of PAAS or WPM?

55.4% of Pan American Silver shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.3% of Wheaton Precious Metals shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.9% of Pan American Silver shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, PAAS or WPM?

Wheaton Precious Metals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Pan American Silver. Pan American Silver is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Wheaton Precious Metals, 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
Pan American Silver	$2.82B	3.65	$111.50M	$0.87	32.63
Wheaton Precious Metals	$1.28B	31.77	$529.14M	$1.36	66.11

Is PAAS or WPM more profitable?

Wheaton Precious Metals has a net margin of 42.45% compared to Pan American Silver's net margin of 10.45%. Wheaton Precious Metals' return on equity of 10.32% beat Pan American Silver's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pan American Silver	10.45%	9.25%	6.08%
Wheaton Precious Metals	42.45%	10.32%	10.10%

Summary

Wheaton Precious Metals beats Pan American Silver on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.