Critical Review: Prairie Operating (NASDAQ:PROP) vs. Amplify Energy (NYSE:AMPY)

Prairie Operating (NASDAQ:PROP) and Amplify Energy (NYSE:AMPY) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

34.3% of Prairie Operating shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.8% of Amplify Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 42.0% of Prairie Operating shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Amplify Energy shares are held 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 Prairie Operating and Amplify Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prairie Operating	N/A	-377.86%	-103.26%
Amplify Energy	8.95%	7.40%	3.86%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Prairie Operating and Amplify Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prairie Operating	0	0	0	0	N/A
Amplify Energy	0	0	3	0	3.00

Amplify Energy has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 56.01%. Given Amplify Energy’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Amplify Energy is more favorable than Prairie Operating.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Prairie Operating and Amplify Energy”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prairie Operating	$1.55 million	70.98	-$79.08 million	N/A	N/A
Amplify Energy	$311.56 million	0.81	$392.75 million	$0.73	8.78

Amplify Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Prairie Operating.

Volatility and Risk

Prairie Operating has a beta of 1.91, suggesting that its share price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amplify Energy has a beta of 1.95, suggesting that its share price is 95% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Amplify Energy beats Prairie Operating on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Prairie Operating

Prairie Operating Co., an independent energy company, engages in the development, exploration, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company holds assets in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado; and the Niobrara and Codell formations. Prairie Operating Co. is based in Houston Texas.

About Amplify Energy

Amplify Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, development, exploitation, and production of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. The company's properties consist of operated and non-operated working interests in producing and undeveloped leasehold acreage, as well as working interests in identified producing wells located in Oklahoma, the Rockies, federal waters offshore Southern California, East Texas/North Louisiana, and Eagle Ford. The company is based in Houston, Texas.