Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) vs. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) Financial Review

Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Comstock Resources and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Comstock Resources	$1.37 billion	2.57	$211.12 million	$0.22	54.77
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras	$99.89 billion	0.99	$24.88 billion	$3.44	4.42

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has higher revenue and earnings than Comstock Resources. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Comstock Resources, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Comstock Resources and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Comstock Resources	-1.48%	-1.38%	-0.53%
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras	16.17%	28.42%	10.53%

Dividends

Comstock Resources pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras pays an annual dividend of $0.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Comstock Resources pays out 227.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras pays out 25.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

36.1% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Comstock Resources has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Comstock Resources and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Comstock Resources	3	8	1	0	1.83
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras	0	1	6	0	2.86

Comstock Resources currently has a consensus price target of $9.93, suggesting a potential downside of 17.61%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a consensus price target of $18.20, suggesting a potential upside of 19.82%. Given Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras is more favorable than Comstock Resources.

Summary

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras beats Comstock Resources on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Comstock Resources

Comstock Resources, Inc., an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of natural gas and oil properties in the United States. Its assets are located in the Haynesville and Bossier shales located in North Louisiana and East Texas. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is headquartered in Frisco, Texas. Comstock Resources, Inc. is a subsidiary of Arkoma Drilling, L.P.

About Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras explores, produces, and sells oil and gas in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through Exploration and Production; Refining, Transportation and Marketing; and Gas and Power. It also engages in prospecting, drilling, refining, processing, trading, and transporting crude oil from producing onshore and offshore oil fields, and shale or other rocks, as well as oil products, natural gas, and other liquid hydrocarbons. The Exploration and Production segment explores, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas primarily for supplies to the domestic refineries. The Refining, Transportation and Marketing segment engages in the refining, logistics, transport, marketing, and trading of crude oil and oil products; exportation of ethanol; and extraction and processing of shale, as well as holding interests in petrochemical companies. The Gas and Power segment is involved in the logistic and trading of natural gas and electricity; transportation and trading of LNG; generation of electricity through thermoelectric power plants; holding interests in transportation and distribution of natural gas; and fertilizer production and natural gas processing business. In addition, the company produces biodiesel and its co-products, and ethanol; and distributes oil products. Further, it engages in research, development, production, transport, distribution, and trading of energy. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras was incorporated in 1953 and is headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.