PEDEVCO (NYSE:PED) and SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Head to Head Comparison

PEDEVCO (NYSE:PED) and SM Energy (NYSE:SM) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

PEDEVCO has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SM Energy has a beta of 4.15, indicating that its share price is 315% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares PEDEVCO and SM Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PEDEVCO	6.57%	1.58%	1.39%
SM Energy	33.89%	19.62%	10.87%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares PEDEVCO and SM Energy”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PEDEVCO	$35.72 million	1.95	$260,000.00	$0.02	38.90
SM Energy	$2.44 billion	1.82	$817.88 million	$7.16	5.41

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

3.3% of PEDEVCO shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.6% of SM Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 70.6% of PEDEVCO shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of SM Energy shares are held 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for PEDEVCO and SM Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PEDEVCO	0	0	2	0	3.00
SM Energy	0	6	7	1	2.64

PEDEVCO presently has a consensus target price of $1.63, suggesting a potential upside of 108.87%. SM Energy has a consensus target price of $50.64, suggesting a potential upside of 30.64%. Given PEDEVCO’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe PEDEVCO is more favorable than SM Energy.

Summary

SM Energy beats PEDEVCO on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PEDEVCO

PEDEVCO Corp., an oil and gas company, focuses on the acquisition, development, and production of oil and natural gas assets in the United States. It holds interests in the Permian Basin asset covering an area of approximately 22,721 net acres located in New Mexico; and D-J Basin asset covering an area of approximately 19,214 net acres located in Wyoming. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St. Mary Land & Exploration Company and changed its name to SM Energy Company in May 2010. SM Energy Company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.