Contrasting Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) and Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP)

Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP) and Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Canadian Natural Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Martin Midstream Partners	-2.07%	N/A	-2.91%
Canadian Natural Resources	22.78%	23.91%	11.45%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Martin Midstream Partners and Canadian Natural Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Martin Midstream Partners	1	1	0	0	1.50
Canadian Natural Resources	0	5	7	0	2.58

Martin Midstream Partners presently has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 37.61%. Canadian Natural Resources has a consensus target price of $57.00, suggesting a potential upside of 19.15%. Given Martin Midstream Partners’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Martin Midstream Partners is more favorable than Canadian Natural Resources.

Dividends

Martin Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Canadian Natural Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Martin Midstream Partners pays out -5.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Canadian Natural Resources pays out 44.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Canadian Natural Resources has increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years. Canadian Natural Resources is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Martin Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canadian Natural Resources has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Canadian Natural Resources”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Martin Midstream Partners	$716.11 million	0.12	-$14.74 million	($0.38)	-5.74
Canadian Natural Resources	$31.61 billion	3.11	$7.74 billion	$4.05	11.81

Canadian Natural Resources has higher revenue and earnings than Martin Midstream Partners. Martin Midstream Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Canadian Natural Resources, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

34.9% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.0% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.0% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Canadian Natural Resources beats Martin Midstream Partners on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Martin Midstream Partners

Martin Midstream Partners L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides terminalling, processing, storage, and packaging services for petroleum products and by-products primarily in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Terminalling and Storage, Transportation, Sulfur Services, and Specialty Products. The company's Terminalling and Storage segment owns or operates various marine shore-based terminal facilities and specialty terminal facilities that provide storage, refining, blending, packaging, and handling services for producers and suppliers of petroleum products and by-products. This segment also offers land rental services to oil and gas companies, as well as storage and handling services for lubricants and fuels. Its Transportation segment operates various trucks and tank trailers; and inland marine tank barges, inland push boats, and articulated offshore tug and barge unit to transport petroleum products and by-products, petrochemicals, and chemicals. The company's Sulfur Services segment processes molten sulfur into prilled or pelletized sulfur, which is used in the production of fertilizers and industrial chemicals. Its Specialty Products segment stores, distributes, and transports natural gas liquids for wholesale deliveries to refineries, industrial natural gas liquid users, and propane retailers. Martin Midstream GP LLC serves as a general partner of the company. Martin Midstream Partners L.P. was incorporated in 2002 and is based in Kilgore, Texas.

About Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO). The company’s midstream assets include two pipeline systems; and a 50% working interest in an 84-megawatt cogeneration plant at Primrose. It operates primarily in Western Canada; the United Kingdom portion of the North Sea; and Offshore Africa. The company was formerly known as AEX Minerals Corporation and changed its name to Canadian Natural Resources Limited in December 1975. Canadian Natural Resources Limited was incorporated in 1973 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.