Reviewing Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) and Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK)

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

36.1% of Comstock Resources shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.2% of Geopark shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Comstock Resources shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Comstock Resources has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Geopark has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Comstock Resources pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Geopark pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Comstock Resources pays out 35.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Geopark pays out 18.5% 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. Geopark has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Comstock Resources and Geopark, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Comstock Resources	3	6	1	0	1.80
Geopark	0	2	2	0	2.50

Comstock Resources currently has a consensus target price of $21.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.17%. Geopark has a consensus target price of $11.50, indicating a potential upside of 25.75%. Given Geopark’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Geopark is more favorable than Comstock Resources.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Comstock Resources and Geopark”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Comstock Resources	$1.93 billion	3.13	$395.61 million	$1.41	14.58
Geopark	$660.80 million	0.71	$96.38 million	$0.65	14.07

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

Profitability

This table compares Comstock Resources and Geopark’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Comstock Resources	17.80%	6.30%	2.39%
Geopark	6.45%	33.42%	6.17%

Summary

Geopark beats Comstock Resources on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Geopark

GeoPark Limited operates as an oil and natural gas exploration and production company primarily in Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries. It engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves. The company was formerly known as GeoPark Holdings Limited and changed its name to GeoPark Limited in July 2013. GeoPark Limited was founded in 2002 and is based in Bogotá, Colombia.