Critical Survey: HKN (OTCMKTS:HKNI) and Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Comstock Resources and HKN, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Comstock Resources	3	6	1	0	1.80
HKN	0	0	0	0	0.00

Comstock Resources presently has a consensus price target of $21.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.96%. Given Comstock Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Comstock Resources is more favorable than HKN.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

36.1% of Comstock Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Comstock Resources shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of HKN shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Comstock Resources	$2.22 billion	2.96	$395.61 million	$1.41	15.84
HKN	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Comstock Resources has higher revenue and earnings than HKN.

Profitability

This table compares Comstock Resources and HKN’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%
HKN	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Comstock Resources beats HKN on 9 of the 9 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 HKN

HKN, Inc. operates as an independent energy company. The company owns an oilfield emulsion breaking technology that purifies oilfield emulsions by breaking and separating the emulsions into oil, water, and solids. It also holds non-operated oil and gas leases and mineral interests in properties located in the Bakken and Niobrara shale oil plays; and rights to acreage in the Permian Basin of Texas. The company was founded in 1973 and is based in Southlake, Texas.