Head-To-Head Survey: Permianville Royalty Trust (NYSE:PVL) & Mesa Royalty Trust (NYSE:MTR)

Mesa Royalty Trust (NYSE:MTR) and Permianville Royalty Trust (NYSE:PVL) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and dividends.

Dividends

Mesa Royalty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Permianville Royalty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.1%. Mesa Royalty Trust pays out 95.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Permianville Royalty Trust pays out 400.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mesa Royalty Trust has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

12.7% of Mesa Royalty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.8% of Permianville Royalty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Mesa Royalty Trust and Permianville Royalty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mesa Royalty Trust	1	0	0	0	1.00
Permianville Royalty Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00

Profitability

This table compares Mesa Royalty Trust and Permianville Royalty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mesa Royalty Trust	76.84%	13.63%	13.24%
Permianville Royalty Trust	4.44%	5.04%	5.00%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Mesa Royalty Trust and Permianville Royalty Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mesa Royalty Trust	$650,000.00	12.43	$460,000.00	$0.23	18.89
Permianville Royalty Trust	$61.63 million	0.93	$5.14 million	$0.07	24.86

Permianville Royalty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Mesa Royalty Trust. Mesa Royalty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Permianville Royalty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Mesa Royalty Trust has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Permianville Royalty Trust has a beta of 0.08, meaning that its stock price is 92% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Mesa Royalty Trust beats Permianville Royalty Trust on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mesa Royalty Trust

Mesa Royalty Trust owns overriding royalty interests in various oil and gas producing properties in the United States. It holds interests in properties located in the Hugoton field of Kansas; and the San Juan Basin field of Northwestern New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Permianville Royalty Trust

Permianville Royalty Trust operates as a statutory trust. It is involved in the acquisition and holding of net profits interest representing the right to receive 80% of the net profits from the sale of oil and natural gas production from properties located in the states of Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. The company was formerly known as Enduro Royalty Trust and changed its name to Permianville Royalty Trust in September 2018. Permianville Royalty Trust was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Houston, Texas.