Reviewing Portage Biotech (NASDAQ:PRTG) and Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK)

Portage Biotech (NASDAQ:PRTG) and Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.4% of Portage Biotech shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.1% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.1% of Portage Biotech shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Portage Biotech has a beta of 1.61, indicating that its share price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Comstock Resources has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Portage Biotech and Comstock Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Portage Biotech	0	1	1	0	2.50
Comstock Resources	2	6	2	0	2.00

Portage Biotech presently has a consensus price target of $8.50, suggesting a potential upside of 3,905.66%. Comstock Resources has a consensus price target of $10.25, suggesting a potential downside of 1.25%. Given Portage Biotech’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Portage Biotech is more favorable than Comstock Resources.

Profitability

This table compares Portage Biotech and Comstock Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Portage Biotech	N/A	-177.66%	-129.14%
Comstock Resources	4.27%	1.25%	0.48%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Portage Biotech and Comstock Resources’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Portage Biotech	N/A	N/A	-$104.61 million	($8.34)	-0.03
Comstock Resources	$1.57 billion	1.94	$211.12 million	$0.22	47.18

Comstock Resources has higher revenue and earnings than Portage Biotech. Portage Biotech is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Comstock Resources, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Comstock Resources beats Portage Biotech on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Portage Biotech

Portage Biotech Inc., a clinical stage immune-oncology company, engages in the research and develops pharmaceutical and biotechnology products. Its product pipeline includes PORT-2 for treatment of refractory NSCLC, melanoma, and refractory melanoma that is in phase I and phase II clinical trials; PORT-3, for treatment of solid tumors, which is in phase I clinical trials; PORT-6, an A2AR inhibitor to treat A2A & A2B high solid tumors that is in phase Ia clinical trials; PORT-7, an A2AR inhibitor to treat A2A & A2B high solid tumors that is in phase Ib clinical trials; PORT-1, an intratumoral amphiphilic solutions for treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma, which is in phase 3 clinical trials; PORT-4, a nanolipogel co-formulations to treat of solid tumors that is in preclinical trials; and PORT-5, a VLP-STING to treat of solid tumors that is in preclinical trials. The company is based in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

About Comstock Resources

Comstock Resources, Inc., an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of natural gas and oil properties in the United States. Its assets are located in the Haynesville and Bossier shales located in North Louisiana and East Texas. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is headquartered in Frisco, Texas.