Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) and Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) Financial Review

Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) and Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

68.2% of Geopark shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.2% of Cenovus Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Geopark shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Geopark and Cenovus Energy”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Geopark	$660.80 million	0.58	$96.38 million	$1.51	4.92
Cenovus Energy	$39.62 billion	0.67	$2.29 billion	$1.07	13.66

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

Dividends

Geopark pays an annual dividend of $0.59 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.9%. Cenovus Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Geopark pays out 39.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cenovus Energy pays out 54.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Geopark has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Cenovus Energy has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Geopark is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility and Risk

Geopark has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cenovus Energy has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Geopark and Cenovus Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Geopark	0	0	1	0	3.00
Cenovus Energy	0	4	4	1	2.67

Geopark presently has a consensus target price of $11.00, suggesting a potential upside of 47.93%. Cenovus Energy has a consensus target price of $25.75, suggesting a potential upside of 76.19%. Given Cenovus Energy’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cenovus Energy is more favorable than Geopark.

Profitability

This table compares Geopark and Cenovus Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Geopark	12.56%	42.96%	7.61%
Cenovus Energy	5.22%	9.56%	5.04%

About Geopark

GeoPark Limited operates as an oil and natural gas exploration and production company primarily in Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries. It engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves. The company was formerly known as GeoPark Holdings Limited and changed its name to GeoPark Limited in July 2013. GeoPark Limited was founded in 2002 and is based in Bogotá, Colombia.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, refines, transports, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and refined petroleum products in Canada and internationally. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, Offshore, Canadian Refining, and U.S. Refining segments. The Oil Sands segment develops and produces bitumen and heavy oil in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. This segment assets include Foster Creek, Christina Lake, and Sunrise projects, as well as Lloydminster thermal and conventional heavy oil assets. The Conventional segment holds natural gas liquids and natural gas assets primarily located in Elmworth-Wapiti, Kaybob-Edson, Clearwater, and Rainbow Lake operating in Alberta and British Columbia, as well as interests in various natural gas processing facilities. The offshore segment engages in offshore operation, exploration, and development activities in China and the East Coast of Canada. The Canadian Refining segment owns and operates Lloydminster upgrading and asphalt refining complex, which converts heavy oil and bitumen into synthetic crude oil, diesel, asphalt, and other ancillary products, as well as Bruderheim crude-by-rail terminal and ethanol plants. The U.S. Refining segment refines crude oil to produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt, and other products. Cenovus Energy Inc. is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.