Critical Comparison: Barnwell Industries (NYSE:BRN) vs. Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE)

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) and Barnwell Industries (NYSE:BRN) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Expand Energy has a beta of 0.34, suggesting that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barnwell Industries has a beta of -0.01, suggesting that its share price is 101% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.9% of Expand Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.7% of Barnwell Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Expand Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.0% of Barnwell Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Expand Energy and Barnwell Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Expand Energy	20.46%	10.33%	6.89%
Barnwell Industries	-34.01%	-48.90%	-22.57%

Dividends

Expand Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Barnwell Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Expand Energy pays out 19.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Barnwell Industries pays out -1.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Expand Energy and Barnwell Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Expand Energy	1	5	12	2	2.75
Barnwell Industries	0	0	0	0	0.00

Expand Energy presently has a consensus price target of $129.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.77%. Given Expand Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Expand Energy is more favorable than Barnwell Industries.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Expand Energy and Barnwell Industries”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Expand Energy	$12.12 billion	1.78	$1.82 billion	$11.58	8.03
Barnwell Industries	$11.47 million	1.22	-$5.57 million	($0.61)	-1.60

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

Summary

Expand Energy beats Barnwell Industries on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Expand Energy

Expand Energy Corporation is an independent natural gas producer principally in the United States. Expand Energy Corporation, formerly known as Chesapeake Energy Corporation, is based in OKLAHOMA CITY.

About Barnwell Industries

Barnwell Industries, Inc. acquires, develops, produces, and sells oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Oil and Natural Gas, Land Investment, and Contract Drilling. It also acquires and develops crude oil and natural gas assets in the province of Alberta, as well as invests in land interests in Hawaii. In addition, the company owns and operates threes water well drilling rigs, two pump rigs, and other ancillary drilling and pump equipment; and drills water and water monitoring wells of varying depths. Further, it installs and repairs water pumping systems; and distributes trillium flow technologies. Barnwell Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1956 and is based in Honolulu, Hawaii.