Greenfire Resources (NYSE:GFR) and Mexco Energy (NYSE:MXC) Critical Survey

Greenfire Resources (NYSE:GFR) and Mexco Energy (NYSE:MXC) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Greenfire Resources and Mexco Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Greenfire Resources	0	0	1	0	3.00
Mexco Energy	0	0	0	0	0.00

Greenfire Resources presently has a consensus price target of $10.50, indicating a potential upside of 48.94%. Given Greenfire Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Greenfire Resources is more favorable than Mexco Energy.

Profitability

This table compares Greenfire Resources and Mexco Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Greenfire Resources	5.02%	5.40%	3.13%
Mexco Energy	17.59%	6.94%	6.37%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Greenfire Resources and Mexco Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Greenfire Resources	$775.81 million	0.63	-$100.50 million	$0.35	20.14
Mexco Energy	$6.93 million	3.77	$1.35 million	$0.57	22.42

Mexco Energy has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Greenfire Resources. Greenfire Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mexco Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.9% of Greenfire Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 5.9% of Mexco Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.0% of Greenfire Resources shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 53.0% of Mexco Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Greenfire Resources has a beta of 0.3, meaning that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mexco Energy has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Mexco Energy beats Greenfire Resources on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Greenfire Resources

Greenfire Resources Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, exploration, and operation of oil and gas properties in the Athabasca oil sands region of Alberta. The company operates the Tier-1 oil sands assets located in Western Canada. It utilizes steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) extraction technology, a situ thermal oil recovery process to recover diluted and non- diluted bitumen. The company is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

About Mexco Energy

Mexco Energy Corporation, an independent oil and gas company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of natural gas, crude oil, condensate, and natural gas liquids in the United States. It owns partial interests in approximately 6,400 gross producing wells located in the states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, Montana, Virginia, North Dakota, and Ohio. It also owned leasehold mineral, royalty, and other interests in approximately 2,768 net acres. The company was formerly known as Miller Oil Company and changed its name to Mexco Energy Corporation in April 1980. Mexco Energy Corporation was incorporated in 1972 and is based in Midland, Texas.