Critical Review: Sundance Energy Australia (OTCMKTS:SDCJF) and Barnwell Industries (NYSE:BRN)

Institutional & Insider Ownership

40.7% of Barnwell Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.6% of Barnwell Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sundance Energy Australia and Barnwell Industries”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sundance Energy Australia	$164.93 million	0.06	-$28.14 million	N/A	N/A
Barnwell Industries	$13.70 million	0.90	-$5.57 million	($0.70)	-1.40

Barnwell Industries has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sundance Energy Australia.

Risk and Volatility

Sundance Energy Australia has a beta of 3.96, suggesting that its share price is 296% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barnwell Industries has a beta of -0.23, suggesting that its share price is 123% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sundance Energy Australia and Barnwell Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sundance Energy Australia	24.02%	13.45%	6.16%
Barnwell Industries	-34.01%	-48.90%	-22.57%

Summary

Sundance Energy Australia beats Barnwell Industries on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sundance Energy Australia

Sundance Energy Australia Limited operates as an onshore oil and gas company in the United States. The company explores for, develops, and produces oil and natural gas. Its exploration and development activities are focused on the Eagle Ford project in the South-Texas-Gulf Coast Basin. Sundance Energy Australia Limited was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Wayville, Australia.

About Barnwell Industries

Barnwell Industries, Inc. acquires, develops, produces, and sells oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Oil and Natural Gas, Land Investment, and Contract Drilling. It also acquires and develops crude oil and natural gas assets in the province of Alberta, as well as invests in land interests in Hawaii. In addition, the company owns and operates threes water well drilling rigs, two pump rigs, and other ancillary drilling and pump equipment; and drills water and water monitoring wells of varying depths. Further, it installs and repairs water pumping systems; and distributes trillium flow technologies. Barnwell Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1956 and is based in Honolulu, Hawaii.