Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) versus HKN (OTCMKTS:HKNI) Critical Contrast

HKN (OTCMKTS:HKNI) and Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for HKN and Viper Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HKN	0	0	0	0	0.00
Viper Energy	0	2	15	0	2.88

Viper Energy has a consensus price target of $57.57, indicating a potential upside of 27.54%. Given Viper Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Viper Energy is more favorable than HKN.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.7% of Viper Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of HKN shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Viper Energy shares are owned by 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares HKN and Viper Energy”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HKN	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Viper Energy	$1.66 billion	9.76	-$68.00 million	($0.32)	-141.06

HKN has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Viper Energy.

Profitability

This table compares HKN and Viper Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HKN	N/A	N/A	N/A
Viper Energy	-2.77%	2.64%	2.21%

Summary

Viper Energy beats HKN on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HKN

HKN, Inc. operates as an independent energy company. The company owns an oilfield emulsion breaking technology that purifies oilfield emulsions by breaking and separating the emulsions into oil, water, and solids. It also holds non-operated oil and gas leases and mineral interests in properties located in the Bakken and Niobrara shale oil plays; and rights to acreage in the Permian Basin of Texas. The company was founded in 1973 and is based in Southlake, Texas.

About Viper Energy

Viper Energy, Inc. engages in the acquisition of oil and natural gas properties. It owns, acquires, and exploits oil and natural gas properties in North America. The company was founded on February 27, 2014 and is headquartered in Midland, TX.