Head to Head Survey: Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) & Inplay Oil Cp (OTCMKTS:IPOOF)

Inplay Oil Cp (OTCMKTS:IPOOF) and Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Inplay Oil Cp has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Geopark has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Inplay Oil Cp and Geopark, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Inplay Oil Cp	0	0	0	1	4.00
Geopark	0	2	1	0	2.33

Geopark has a consensus target price of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.47%. Given Geopark’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Geopark is more favorable than Inplay Oil Cp.

Dividends

Inplay Oil Cp pays an annual dividend of $0.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Geopark pays an annual dividend of $0.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Inplay Oil Cp pays out -195.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Geopark pays out 6.1% 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. Geopark has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Inplay Oil Cp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

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

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Inplay Oil Cp and Geopark”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Inplay Oil Cp	$208.55 million	1.60	-$5.61 million	($0.40)	-29.90
Geopark	$563.12 million	1.03	$49.67 million	$1.47	7.67

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Inplay Oil Cp	-3.70%	4.89%	1.54%
Geopark	16.00%	31.33%	7.66%

Summary

Geopark beats Inplay Oil Cp on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

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.