Analyzing Evolution Petroleum Corp (EPM) & Resolute Energy Corporation (NYSE:REN)

Evolution Petroleum Corp (NYSE: EPM) and Resolute Energy Corporation (NYSE:REN) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitabiliy, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Evolution Petroleum Corp and Resolute Energy Corporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Evolution Petroleum Corp	25.40%	14.11%	11.12%
Resolute Energy Corporation	-35.56%	N/A	-18.45%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Evolution Petroleum Corp and Resolute Energy Corporation, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Evolution Petroleum Corp	0	1	3	0	2.75
Resolute Energy Corporation	0	3	10	0	2.77

Evolution Petroleum Corp currently has a consensus target price of $10.33, indicating a potential upside of 29.98%. Resolute Energy Corporation has a consensus target price of $43.55, indicating a potential upside of 28.49%. Given Evolution Petroleum Corp’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Evolution Petroleum Corp is more favorable than Resolute Energy Corporation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Evolution Petroleum Corp and Resolute Energy Corporation’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Evolution Petroleum Corp	$32.89 million	7.90	$18.80 million	N/A	N/A
Resolute Energy Corporation	$210.70 million	3.54	$36.32 million	($4.90)	-6.92

Resolute Energy Corporation has higher revenue and earnings than Evolution Petroleum Corp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

86.6% of Resolute Energy Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.7% of Resolute Energy Corporation 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.

Summary

Resolute Energy Corporation beats Evolution Petroleum Corp on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Evolution Petroleum Corp

Evolution Petroleum Corporation is an independent oil and gas company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition, exploitation and development of properties for the production of crude oil and natural gas, onshore in the United States. Its assets include interests in a carbon dioxide (CO2) enhanced oil recovery project (EOR) in Louisiana’s Delhi field. Its artificial lift technology is Gas Assisted Rod Pump (GARP). The Company tested GARP technology on marginal producing wells that it owns and operates in the Giddings Field. Its mineral interests include Delhi Holt-Bryant Unit in the Delhi field (Unit) located in Northeast Louisiana. As of June 30, 2016, the Unit was approximately 13,636 acres in size. As of June 30, 2016, the Unit produced approximately 195 million barrels of oil through primary and limited secondary recovery operations. As of June 30, 2016, the Unit had produced over 11 million barrels of oil. The Unit is producing as an EOR project utilizing CO2 flood technology.

About Resolute Energy Corporation

Resolute Energy Corporation is an independent oil and gas company. The Company is engaged in the exploitation, development, exploration for and acquisition of oil and gas properties. The Company’s assets are located primarily in the Delaware Basin in west Texas (the Permian Properties or Permian Basin Properties) and Aneth Field located in the Paradox Basin in southeast Utah (the Aneth Field Properties or Aneth Field). The Company has an interest in gas gathering and compression facilities located within and adjacent to its Aneth Field Properties. The Aneth field is an oil field located in southeast Utah. The Aneth field is connected by pipeline to a refinery located near Gallup, New Mexico. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had interests in approximately 23,900 gross (20,000 net) acres in the Permian Basin of Texas and southeast New Mexico.