Verde Clean Fuels (NASDAQ:VGAS) & Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Critical Analysis

Verde Clean Fuels (NASDAQ:VGAS) and Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Verde Clean Fuels has a beta of -0.46, suggesting that its share price is 146% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Expand Energy has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

15.6% of Verde Clean Fuels shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.9% of Expand Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Verde Clean Fuels shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Expand Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Verde Clean Fuels and Expand Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Verde Clean Fuels	0	0	0	0	0.00
Expand Energy	0	2	17	2	3.00

Expand Energy has a consensus price target of $127.46, indicating a potential upside of 16.74%. Given Expand Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Expand Energy is more favorable than Verde Clean Fuels.

Profitability

This table compares Verde Clean Fuels and Expand Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Verde Clean Fuels	N/A	-9.44%	-8.79%
Expand Energy	2.41%	5.76%	3.73%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Verde Clean Fuels and Expand Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Verde Clean Fuels	N/A	N/A	-$3.33 million	($0.41)	-7.54
Expand Energy	$4.24 billion	6.14	-$714.00 million	$0.39	279.95

Verde Clean Fuels has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Expand Energy. Verde Clean Fuels is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Expand Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Expand Energy beats Verde Clean Fuels on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Verde Clean Fuels

Verde Clean Fuels, Inc., operates as a clean energy technology company in the United States. It specializes in the conversion of synthesis gas, or syngas, derived from feedstocks, such as biomass, natural gas, and other feedstocks into liquid hydrocarbons that can be used as gasoline through proprietary liquid fuels technology. Verde Clean Fuels, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Expand Energy

Expand Energy Corporation is an independent natural gas producer principally in the United States. Expand Energy Corporation, formerly known as Chesapeake Energy Corporation, is based in OKLAHOMA CITY.