Head-To-Head Review: Lightbridge (NASDAQ:LTBR) & Crescent Energy (NYSE:CRGY)

Crescent Energy (NYSE:CRGY) and Lightbridge (NASDAQ:LTBR) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Crescent Energy and Lightbridge, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crescent Energy	3	3	8	1	2.47
Lightbridge	1	0	0	0	1.00

Crescent Energy currently has a consensus target price of $14.55, suggesting a potential upside of 79.04%. Given Crescent Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Crescent Energy is more favorable than Lightbridge.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

52.1% of Crescent Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.1% of Lightbridge shares are held by institutional investors. 13.2% of Crescent Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Lightbridge shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Crescent Energy and Lightbridge”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crescent Energy	$2.93 billion	0.71	-$114.61 million	($0.15)	-54.16
Lightbridge	N/A	N/A	-$11.79 million	($0.80)	-20.64

Lightbridge has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Crescent Energy. Crescent Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lightbridge, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Crescent Energy has a beta of 1.73, meaning that its stock price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lightbridge has a beta of 1.84, meaning that its stock price is 84% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Crescent Energy and Lightbridge’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crescent Energy	0.66%	11.77%	4.69%
Lightbridge	N/A	-18.71%	-18.49%

Summary

Crescent Energy beats Lightbridge on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Crescent Energy

Crescent Energy Company acquires, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs) reserves. Its portfolio of assets comprises mid-cycle unconventional and conventional assets in the Eagle Ford and Uinta Basins. It also owns and operates various midstream assets, which provide services to customers. The company is based in Houston, Texas.

About Lightbridge

Lightbridge Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in developing nuclear fuel technology. It develops and commercializes metallic nuclear fuels. The company was formerly known as Thorium Power, Ltd. and changed its name to Lightbridge Corporation in September 2009. Lightbridge Corporation is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.