Critical Contrast: Evolution Petroleum (NYSE:EPM) and Sundance Energy Australia (OTCMKTS:SDCJF)

Evolution Petroleum (NYSE:EPM) and Sundance Energy Australia (OTCMKTS:SDCJF) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Evolution Petroleum has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sundance Energy Australia has a beta of 3.96, suggesting that its stock price is 296% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Evolution Petroleum and Sundance Energy Australia, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Evolution Petroleum	0	0	1	1	3.50
Sundance Energy Australia	0	0	0	0	0.00

Evolution Petroleum presently has a consensus target price of $6.50, suggesting a potential upside of 28.71%. Given Evolution Petroleum’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Evolution Petroleum is more favorable than Sundance Energy Australia.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Evolution Petroleum and Sundance Energy Australia”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Evolution Petroleum	$86.42 million	2.00	$4.08 million	$0.05	101.00
Sundance Energy Australia	$164.93 million	0.06	-$28.14 million	N/A	N/A

Evolution Petroleum has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Sundance Energy Australia.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

60.1% of Evolution Petroleum shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.1% of Evolution Petroleum shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Evolution Petroleum and Sundance Energy Australia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Evolution Petroleum	2.04%	2.42%	1.20%
Sundance Energy Australia	24.02%	13.45%	6.16%

Summary

Evolution Petroleum beats Sundance Energy Australia on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Evolution Petroleum

Evolution Petroleum Corporation, an energy company, engages in the development, production, ownership, and exploitation of onshore oil and gas properties in the United States. The company holds a non-operated interests in the SCOOP and STACK plays located in Central Oklahoma; the Chaveroo Field situated in Chaves and Roosevelt Counties, New Mexico; the Jonah Field located in Sublette County, Wyoming; the Williston Basin situated in Williston, North Dakota; the Barnett Shale field located in North Texas; the Hamilton Dome situated in Hot Springs County, Wyoming; and the Delhi Field, an onshore CO2-EOR project located in northeast Louisiana in Franklin, Madison, and Richland Parishes, as well as small overriding royalty interests in four onshore central Texas wells. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Sundance Energy Australia

Sundance Energy Australia Limited operates as an onshore oil and gas company in the United States. The company explores for, develops, and produces oil and natural gas. Its exploration and development activities are focused on the Eagle Ford project in the South-Texas-Gulf Coast Basin. Sundance Energy Australia Limited was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Wayville, Australia.