TXO Partners (NYSE:TXO) versus Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) Critical Analysis

TXO Partners (NYSE:TXO) and Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for TXO Partners and Comstock Resources, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TXO Partners	0	0	1	0	3.00
Comstock Resources	3	7	1	0	1.82

TXO Partners currently has a consensus price target of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 34.59%. Comstock Resources has a consensus price target of $17.15, suggesting a potential downside of 27.74%. Given TXO Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe TXO Partners is more favorable than Comstock Resources.

Volatility and Risk

TXO Partners has a beta of 0.17, suggesting that its share price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Comstock Resources has a beta of 0.14, suggesting that its share price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares TXO Partners and Comstock Resources”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TXO Partners	$299.70 million	2.05	-$103.99 million	$0.42	35.38
Comstock Resources	$1.43 billion	4.86	$211.12 million	($1.11)	-21.38

Comstock Resources has higher revenue and earnings than TXO Partners. Comstock Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TXO Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares TXO Partners and Comstock Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TXO Partners	-63.22%	8.05%	5.41%
Comstock Resources	-18.32%	-3.10%	-1.17%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

27.4% of TXO Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.1% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

TXO Partners pays an annual dividend of $2.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.4%. Comstock Resources pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. TXO Partners pays out 581.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Comstock Resources pays out -45.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TXO Partners has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. TXO Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

TXO Partners beats Comstock Resources on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TXO Partners

TXO Partners, L.P., an oil and natural gas company, focuses on the acquisition, development, optimization, and exploitation of conventional oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquid reserves in North America. Its acreage positions are concentrated in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico and the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Colorado. The company was formerly known as TXO Energy Partners, L.P. and changed its name to TXO Partners, L.P. in May 2023. TXO Partners, L.P. was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Fort Worth, Texas.

About Comstock Resources

Comstock Resources, Inc., an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of natural gas and oil properties in the United States. Its assets are located in the Haynesville and Bossier shales located in North Louisiana and East Texas. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is headquartered in Frisco, Texas. Comstock Resources, Inc. is a subsidiary of Arkoma Drilling, L.P.