Critical Survey: Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) versus Sable Offshore (NYSE:SOC)

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) and Sable Offshore (NYSE:SOC) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

94.9% of Berry shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.2% of Sable Offshore shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of Berry shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 36.4% of Sable Offshore shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Berry and Sable Offshore’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Berry	0.60%	5.27%	2.48%
Sable Offshore	N/A	-88.48%	-17.69%

Risk & Volatility

Berry has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sable Offshore has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Berry and Sable Offshore, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Berry	1	3	0	0	1.75
Sable Offshore	2	0	6	0	2.50

Berry currently has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.12%. Sable Offshore has a consensus target price of $28.20, indicating a potential upside of 119.20%. Given Sable Offshore’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sable Offshore is more favorable than Berry.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Berry and Sable Offshore”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Berry	$776.50 million	0.33	$19.25 million	$0.07	47.57
Sable Offshore	N/A	N/A	-$629.07 million	($3.39)	-3.79

Berry has higher revenue and earnings than Sable Offshore. Sable Offshore is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Berry, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Berry beats Sable Offshore on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Berry

Berry Petroleum Company, LLC., formerly Berry Petroleum Company, is an independent energy company. The Company is engaged in the production, development, exploitation, and acquisition of oil and natural gas. The Company’s principal reserves and producing properties are located in California (South Midway-Sunset (SMWSS)-Steam Floods, North Midway-Sunset (NMWSS)-Diatomite, NMWSS-New Steam Floods, Texas (Permian and E. Texas), Utah (Uinta) and Colorado (Piceance). The Company’s operations are conducted in the continental United States. In December 2013, Linn Energy LLC and Linn Co, LLC (Linn Co) announced the completion of the merger between LinnCo and Berry Petroleum Company (Berry), where LinnCo had acquired all of Berry’s interest.

About Sable Offshore

Sable Offshore Corp. engages in the oil and gas exploration and development activities in the United States. The company operates through three platforms located in federal waters offshore California. It owns and operates 16 federal leases across approximately 76,000 acres and subsea pipelines, which transport crude oil, natural gas, and produced water from the platforms to the onshore processing facilities. The company was formerly known as Flame Acquisition Corp. and changed its name to Sable Offshore Corp. in February 2024. Sable Offshore Corp. was incorporated in 2020 and is based in Houston, Texas.