Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) & Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR) Head to Head Review

Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR) and Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.0% of Matador Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.3% of Cheniere Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.8% of Matador Resources shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Cheniere Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Matador Resources has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cheniere Energy has a beta of 0.26, suggesting that its stock price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Matador Resources and Cheniere Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matador Resources	0	3	11	1	2.87
Cheniere Energy	0	3	16	1	2.90

Matador Resources presently has a consensus target price of $59.09, indicating a potential upside of 37.62%. Cheniere Energy has a consensus target price of $265.59, indicating a potential upside of 28.09%. Given Matador Resources’ higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Matador Resources is more favorable than Cheniere Energy.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matador Resources	20.46%	14.80%	7.48%
Cheniere Energy	21.12%	37.52%	9.05%

Dividends

Matador Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Cheniere Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Matador Resources pays out 24.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cheniere Energy pays out 12.4% 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. Matador Resources has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Matador Resources is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Matador Resources and Cheniere Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Matador Resources	$3.50 billion	1.52	$885.32 million	$6.26	6.86
Cheniere Energy	$15.70 billion	2.84	$3.25 billion	$17.95	11.55

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

Summary

Cheniere Energy beats Matador Resources on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Matador Resources

Matador Resources Company, an independent energy company, engages in the exploration, development, production, and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources in the United States. It operates through two segments, Exploration and Production; and Midstream. The company primarily holds interests in the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring plays in the Delaware Basin in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. It also operates the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas; and the Haynesville shale and Cotton Valley plays in Northwest Louisiana. In addition, the company conducts midstream operations in support of its exploration, development, and production operations. Further, it provides natural gas processing and oil transportation services; and oil, natural gas, and produced water gathering services, as well as produced water disposal services to third parties. The company sells natural gas to unaffiliated independent marketing companies and unaffiliated midstream companies. The company was formerly known as Matador Holdco, Inc. and changed its name to Matador Resources Company in August 2011. Matador Resources Company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About Cheniere Energy

Cheniere Energy, Inc., an energy infrastructure company, primarily engages in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) related businesses in the United States. It owns and operates the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana; and the Corpus Christi LNG terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas. The company also owns Creole Trail pipeline, a 94-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal with several interstate and intrastate pipelines; and operates Corpus Christi pipeline, a 21.5-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Corpus Christi LNG terminal with various interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines. It is also involved in the LNG and natural gas marketing business. The company was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.