Analyzing Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) & Geopark (NYSE:GPRK)

Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) and Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Geopark and Murphy Oil, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Geopark	1	0	1	0	2.00
Murphy Oil	2	12	1	0	1.93

Murphy Oil has a consensus target price of $28.50, indicating a potential downside of 6.36%. Given Murphy Oil’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Murphy Oil is more favorable than Geopark.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Geopark	$525.94 million	0.77	$96.38 million	$0.65	12.11
Murphy Oil	$2.75 billion	1.58	$407.17 million	$0.98	31.06

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

Dividends

Geopark pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Murphy Oil pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Geopark pays out 18.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Murphy Oil pays out 132.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Geopark has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Murphy Oil has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Murphy Oil is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Geopark	7.70%	35.65%	6.44%
Murphy Oil	10.20%	5.25%	2.88%

Volatility & Risk

Geopark has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Murphy Oil has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

68.2% of Geopark shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.3% of Murphy Oil shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Geopark shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Murphy Oil shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Murphy Oil beats Geopark on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Geopark

GeoPark Limited operates as an oil and natural gas exploration and production company primarily in Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries. It engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves. The company was formerly known as GeoPark Holdings Limited and changed its name to GeoPark Limited in July 2013. GeoPark Limited was founded in 2002 and is based in Bogotá, Colombia.

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.