Reviewing NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT) & China Natural Gas (OTCMKTS:CHNGQ)

China Natural Gas (OTCMKTS:CHNGQ) and NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for China Natural Gas and NextDecade, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
China Natural Gas	0	0	0	0	0.00
NextDecade	0	0	1	0	3.00

NextDecade has a consensus price target of $9.00, suggesting a potential upside of 24.31%. Given NextDecade’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe NextDecade is more favorable than China Natural Gas.

Profitability

This table compares China Natural Gas and NextDecade’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
China Natural Gas	N/A	N/A	N/A
NextDecade	N/A	-22.67%	-5.47%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares China Natural Gas and NextDecade”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
China Natural Gas	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
NextDecade	N/A	N/A	-$162.26 million	($1.12)	-6.46

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.7% of NextDecade shares are held by institutional investors. 20.8% of China Natural Gas shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of NextDecade shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

China Natural Gas has a beta of -9.04, indicating that its share price is 1,004% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NextDecade has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

NextDecade beats China Natural Gas on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About China Natural Gas

China Natural Gas, Inc., an integrated natural gas operator, engages in the sale and distribution of natural gas and gasoline to commercial, industrial, and residential customers in the People's Republic of China. The company is primarily involved in the distribution of compressed natural gas (CNG) through its variable interest entity-owned CNG fueling stations. As of December 31, 2012, it operated 31 CNG fueling stations, including 20 CNG fueling stations in Shaanxi Province, 10 CNG fueling stations in Henan Province, and 1 CNG fueling station in Hubei Province. It also installs natural gas pipelines, as well as distributes and sells piped natural gas to residential and commercial customers through a high pressure pipeline network of approximately 120 kilometers in the city of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, including Lantian County; the districts of Lintong and Baqiao in Shaanxi Province; and the city of Lingbao in Henan Province. As of the above date, the company had approximately 122,020 residential and commercial customers for its pipeline network, as well as operated 4 automobile conversion sites for converting gasoline-fueled vehicles to hybrid (natural gas/gasoline) powered vehicles. The company is based in Xi'an, the People's Republic of China. On July 2, 2014, the involuntary petition of China Natural Gas, Inc. for reorganization under Chapter 11 was converted to Chapter 7. The involuntary petition was filed under Chapter 11 on February 8, 2013.

About NextDecade

NextDecade Corp. is a development company.