Reviewing Granite Ridge Resources (NYSE:GRNT) & Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ)

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) and Granite Ridge Resources (NYSE:GRNT) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

Canadian Natural Resources has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Granite Ridge Resources has a beta of 0.19, meaning that its share price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

74.0% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.6% of Granite Ridge Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 5.0% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Granite Ridge Resources shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Canadian Natural Resources and Granite Ridge Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Canadian Natural Resources	18.45%	20.07%	10.51%
Granite Ridge Resources	12.59%	11.58%	7.89%

Dividends

Canadian Natural Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Granite Ridge Resources pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Canadian Natural Resources pays out 60.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Granite Ridge Resources pays out 122.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Canadian Natural Resources and Granite Ridge Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Canadian Natural Resources	0	4	0	0	2.00
Granite Ridge Resources	0	2	1	1	2.75

Canadian Natural Resources currently has a consensus target price of $51.00, indicating a potential upside of 47.68%. Granite Ridge Resources has a consensus target price of $7.60, indicating a potential upside of 14.98%. Given Canadian Natural Resources’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Canadian Natural Resources is more favorable than Granite Ridge Resources.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Canadian Natural Resources and Granite Ridge Resources”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Canadian Natural Resources	$30.25 billion	2.41	$6.10 billion	$2.57	13.41
Granite Ridge Resources	$394.07 million	2.19	$81.10 million	$0.36	18.36

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

Summary

Canadian Natural Resources beats Granite Ridge Resources on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO). The company’s midstream assets include two pipeline systems; and a 50% working interest in an 84-megawatt cogeneration plant at Primrose. It operates primarily in Western Canada; the United Kingdom portion of the North Sea; and Offshore Africa. The company was formerly known as AEX Minerals Corporation and changed its name to Canadian Natural Resources Limited in December 1975. Canadian Natural Resources Limited was incorporated in 1973 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

About Granite Ridge Resources

Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. operates as a non-operated oil and gas exploration and production company. It owns a portfolio of wells and acreage across the Permian and other unconventional basins in the United States. Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. is based in Dallas, Texas.