Beach Energy (OTCMKTS:BCHEY) & Vaalco Energy (NYSE:EGY) Head-To-Head Review

Beach Energy (OTCMKTS:BCHEY) and Vaalco Energy (NYSE:EGY) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Risk & Volatility

Beach Energy has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vaalco Energy has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

50.3% of Vaalco Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Vaalco Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Beach Energy and Vaalco Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Beach Energy	$1.35 billion	1.39	-$28.36 million	N/A	N/A
Vaalco Energy	$478.99 million	0.88	$58.49 million	$0.36	11.19

Vaalco Energy has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Beach Energy.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Beach Energy and Vaalco Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Beach Energy	1	1	0	0	1.50
Vaalco Energy	0	1	0	0	2.00

Profitability

This table compares Beach Energy and Vaalco Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Beach Energy	N/A	N/A	N/A
Vaalco Energy	8.26%	4.64%	2.48%

Dividends

Beach Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. Vaalco Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. Vaalco Energy pays out 69.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Vaalco Energy beats Beach Energy on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Beach Energy

Beach Energy Limited operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company. It engages in the operated and non-operated, onshore and offshore, and oil and gas production in five producing basins across Australia and New Zealand. The company also explores, develops, produces, and transports hydrocarbons; and sells gas and liquid hydrocarbons. The company was formerly known as Beach Petroleum Limited and changed its name to Beach Energy Limited in December 2009. The company was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Adelaide, Australia.

About Vaalco Energy

VAALCO Energy, Inc., an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in Gabon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, and Canada. The company holds 58.8% interest in the Etame production sharing contract related to the Etame Marin block covering an area of approximately 46,200 gross acres located offshore in the Republic of Gabon in West Africa. It also owns 100% interest in the Eastern Desert, which contains West Gharib, West Bakr and North West Gharib merged concessions covering as area of approximately 45,067 acres, as well as Western Desert, which contains the South Ghazalat concession covering as area of approximately 7,340 acres located in Egypt. In addition, the company production and working interests in Cardium light oil and Mannville liquids-rich gas assets covering as area of 47,400 gross acres located near the north of Calgary, Alberta; and an undeveloped block offshore Equatorial Guinea, West Africa. VAALCO Energy, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.