Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) and Advantage Energy (OTCMKTS:AAVVF) Financial Contrast

Advantage Energy (OTCMKTS:AAVVF) and Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

7.9% of Advantage Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.3% of Murphy Oil shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Murphy Oil shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Advantage Energy and Murphy Oil, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Advantage Energy	0	2	1	0	2.33
Murphy Oil	0	9	5	0	2.36

Advantage Energy presently has a consensus target price of $13.75, suggesting a potential upside of 119.25%. Murphy Oil has a consensus target price of $41.17, suggesting a potential upside of 25.43%. Given Advantage Energy’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Advantage Energy is more favorable than Murphy Oil.

Profitability

This table compares Advantage Energy and Murphy Oil’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Advantage Energy	8.62%	2.90%	1.84%
Murphy Oil	17.32%	11.68%	6.56%

Volatility and Risk

Advantage Energy has a beta of 1.64, suggesting that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Murphy Oil has a beta of 2.21, suggesting that its share price is 121% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Advantage Energy and Murphy Oil”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Advantage Energy	$400.81 million	2.61	$75.26 million	$0.20	31.36
Murphy Oil	$3.46 billion	1.38	$661.56 million	$3.80	8.64

Murphy Oil has higher revenue and earnings than Advantage Energy. Murphy Oil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Advantage Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Murphy Oil beats Advantage Energy on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Advantage Energy

Advantage Energy Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploitation, development, and production natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the Province of Alberta, Canada. Its assets are located approximately 4 to 80 km northwest of the city of Grande Prairie, Alberta. The company was formerly known as Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. and changed its name to Advantage Energy Ltd. in May 2021. Advantage Energy Ltd. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964. The company was incorporated in 1950 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.