Comparing Granite Ridge Resources (NYSE:GRNT) & California Resources (NYSE:CRC)

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) and Granite Ridge Resources (NYSE:GRNT) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

California Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Granite Ridge Resources pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.0%. California Resources pays out 21.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Granite Ridge Resources pays out 488.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. California Resources has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Risk and Volatility

California Resources has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Granite Ridge Resources has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for California Resources and Granite Ridge Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
California Resources	0	1	10	2	3.08
Granite Ridge Resources	0	2	1	0	2.33

California Resources currently has a consensus target price of $62.2727, indicating a potential upside of 27.35%. Granite Ridge Resources has a consensus target price of $7.50, indicating a potential upside of 53.22%. Given Granite Ridge Resources’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Granite Ridge Resources is more favorable than California Resources.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.8% of California Resources shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.6% of Granite Ridge Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of California Resources shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.5% of Granite Ridge Resources shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares California Resources and Granite Ridge Resources”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
California Resources	$3.31 billion	1.32	$376.00 million	$7.32	6.68
Granite Ridge Resources	$380.03 million	1.69	$18.76 million	$0.09	54.39

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

Profitability

This table compares California Resources and Granite Ridge Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
California Resources	16.14%	11.85%	5.93%
Granite Ridge Resources	2.98%	13.46%	8.41%

Summary

California Resources beats Granite Ridge Resources on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation operates as an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production, and carbon management company in the United States. The company explores, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids for marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities. It also engages in the generation and sale of electricity to the wholesale power market and utility sector; and developing various carbon capture and storage projects in California. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Long Beach, California.

About Granite Ridge Resources

Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. operates as a non-operated oil and gas exploration and production company. It owns a portfolio of wells and acreage across the Permian and other unconventional basins in the United States. Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. is based in Dallas, Texas.