Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) and GSV (OTCMKTS:GSVI) Critical Analysis

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) and GSV (OTCMKTS:GSVI) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Murphy Oil has a beta of 2.18, indicating that its stock price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GSV has a beta of -164.03, indicating that its stock price is 16,503% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Murphy Oil and GSV, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Murphy Oil	1	9	4	0	2.21
GSV	0	0	0	0	0.00

Murphy Oil currently has a consensus price target of $36.31, suggesting a potential upside of 43.67%. Given Murphy Oil’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Murphy Oil is more favorable than GSV.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Murphy Oil and GSV”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Murphy Oil	$3.02 billion	1.22	$407.17 million	$2.69	9.39
GSV	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Murphy Oil has higher revenue and earnings than GSV.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

78.3% of Murphy Oil shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Murphy Oil shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 28.7% of GSV 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.

Profitability

This table compares Murphy Oil and GSV’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Murphy Oil	13.44%	7.66%	4.28%
GSV	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Murphy Oil beats GSV on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964. The company was incorporated in 1950 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About GSV

GSV, Inc. is an oil and gas exploration company. It operates oil and gas wells in Louisiana; and oil and gas prospects in Texas. The company was founded in 1994 and is based in Westport, Connecticut.