Financial Review: Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) & Gran Tierra Energy (NYSE:GTE)

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) and Gran Tierra Energy (NYSE:GTE) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

18.1% of Alliance Resource Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.7% of Gran Tierra Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.8% of Alliance Resource Partners shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.8% of Gran Tierra Energy shares are owned by 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.

Risk and Volatility

Alliance Resource Partners has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gran Tierra Energy has a beta of 0.25, suggesting that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Alliance Resource Partners and Gran Tierra Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alliance Resource Partners	14.09%	20.47%	12.85%
Gran Tierra Energy	7.17%	11.36%	3.28%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Alliance Resource Partners and Gran Tierra Energy”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alliance Resource Partners	$2.19 billion	1.45	$311.16 million	$2.40	10.32
Gran Tierra Energy	$638.42 million	0.53	-$6.29 million	($7.88)	-1.22

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Alliance Resource Partners and Gran Tierra Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alliance Resource Partners	0	1	2	0	2.67
Gran Tierra Energy	0	0	2	1	3.33

Gran Tierra Energy has a consensus target price of $9.72, suggesting a potential upside of 1.51%. Given Gran Tierra Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Gran Tierra Energy is more favorable than Alliance Resource Partners.

Summary

Alliance Resource Partners beats Gran Tierra Energy on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alliance Resource Partners

Alliance Resource Partners, L.P., a diversified natural resource company, produces and markets coal primarily to utilities and industrial users in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Illinois Basin Coal Operations, Appalachia Coal Operations, Oil & Gas Royalties, and Coal Royalties. It produces a range of thermal and metallurgical coal with sulfur and heat contents. The company operates seven underground mining complexes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. In addition, it owns and leases oil and gas mineral interests and equity interests; and leases its coal mineral reserves and resources to its mining complexes; and leases land and operates a coal loading terminal on the Ohio River at Mt. Vernon, Indiana. Further, the company offers various mining technology products and services, including data network, communication and tracking systems, mining proximity detection systems, industrial collision avoidance systems, and data and analytics software. It also exports its products. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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.