California Resources (OTCMKTS:CRCQQ) & Gran Tierra Energy (NYSE:GTE) Head to Head Review

California Resources (OTCMKTS:CRCQQ) and Gran Tierra Energy (NYSE:GTE) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for California Resources and Gran Tierra Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
California Resources	0	0	0	0	0.00
Gran Tierra Energy	0	1	2	0	2.67

Gran Tierra Energy has a consensus target price of $5.45, suggesting a potential upside of 33.91%. Given Gran Tierra Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Gran Tierra Energy is more favorable than California Resources.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares California Resources and Gran Tierra Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
California Resources	$2.63 billion	0.00	-$28.00 million	N/A	N/A
Gran Tierra Energy	$614.07 million	0.23	-$6.29 million	($2.51)	-1.62

Gran Tierra Energy has lower revenue, but higher earnings than California Resources.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

35.7% of California Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.7% of Gran Tierra Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% of California Resources shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.1% of Gran Tierra Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares California Resources and Gran Tierra Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
California Resources	-95.33%	-4.31%	-3.78%
Gran Tierra Energy	7.17%	11.36%	3.28%

Summary

Gran Tierra Energy beats California Resources on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation operates as an oil and natural gas exploration and production company in the State of California. The company sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids to marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities. It holds interests in approximately 2.2 million net acres of mineral acreage. As of December 31, 2019, the company had net proved reserves of 644 million barrels of oil equivalent. It also engages in the generation and sale of electricity to the grid and utility customers. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in Los Angeles, California. On July 15, 2020, California Resources Corporation, along with its affiliates, filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

About Gran Tierra Energy

Gran Tierra Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and production of oil and gas properties in Colombia and Ecuador. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.