Reviewing Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) and HighPeak Energy (NASDAQ:HPK)

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) and HighPeak Energy (NASDAQ:HPK) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Diamondback Energy and HighPeak Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Diamondback Energy	0	5	24	2	2.90
HighPeak Energy	1	1	0	0	1.50

Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus price target of $228.29, indicating a potential upside of 23.70%. Given Diamondback Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Diamondback Energy is more favorable than HighPeak Energy.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.0% of Diamondback Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.1% of HighPeak Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Diamondback Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of HighPeak Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Diamondback Energy has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HighPeak Energy has a beta of 0.05, indicating that its stock price is 95% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Diamondback Energy and HighPeak Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Diamondback Energy	11.03%	11.86%	7.31%
HighPeak Energy	-10.52%	-1.44%	-0.71%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Diamondback Energy and HighPeak Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Diamondback Energy	$15.03 billion	3.44	$1.66 billion	$5.13	35.97
HighPeak Energy	$863.36 million	1.07	$18.96 million	($0.79)	-9.27

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

Summary

Diamondback Energy beats HighPeak Energy on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, develops, explores, and exploits unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. It focuses on the development of the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations of the Midland basin; and the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations of the Delaware basin, which are part of the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico. The company also owns and operates midstream infrastructure assets, in the Midland and Delaware Basins of the Permian Basin. Diamondback Energy, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.

About HighPeak Energy

HighPeak Energy, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, engages in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.