Reviewing Inplay Oil Cp (OTCMKTS:IPOOF) & Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV)

Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) and Inplay Oil Cp (OTCMKTS:IPOOF) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Ovintiv and Inplay Oil Cp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ovintiv	1	4	13	1	2.74
Inplay Oil Cp	1	0	1	2	3.00

Ovintiv currently has a consensus price target of $51.71, suggesting a potential upside of 37.54%. Given Ovintiv’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Ovintiv is more favorable than Inplay Oil Cp.

Dividends

Ovintiv pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Inplay Oil Cp pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. Ovintiv pays out 131.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Inplay Oil Cp pays out -1,900.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ovintiv has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Inplay Oil Cp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

Ovintiv has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Inplay Oil Cp has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ovintiv and Inplay Oil Cp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ovintiv	$8.95 billion	1.08	$1.13 billion	$0.91	41.31
Inplay Oil Cp	$210.66 million	1.16	$6.91 million	($0.04)	-218.30

Ovintiv has higher revenue and earnings than Inplay Oil Cp. Inplay Oil Cp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ovintiv, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ovintiv and Inplay Oil Cp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ovintiv	6.46%	14.24%	7.52%
Inplay Oil Cp	-0.63%	1.18%	0.56%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.8% of Ovintiv shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Ovintiv shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ovintiv beats Inplay Oil Cp on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ovintiv

Ovintiv Inc., together with its subsidiaries, explores, develops, produces, and markets natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States and Canada. The company operates through USA Operations, Canadian Operations, and Market Optimization segments. Its principal assets include Permian in west Texas and Anadarko in west-central Oklahoma; and Montney in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta. In addition, the company's upstream assets comprise Bakken in northwest North Dakota, and Uinta in central Utah; and Horn River in northeast British Columbia. The company was formerly known as Encana Corporation and changed its name to Ovintiv Inc. in January 2020. Ovintiv Inc. was incorporated in 2020 and is based in Denver, Colorado.

About Inplay Oil Cp

InPlay Oil Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of petroleum and natural gas properties in Canada. The company produces and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. It focuses on light oil asset base located in West Central, Alberta. InPlay Oil Corp. is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.