Comparing Sky Quarry (NASDAQ:SKYQ) and Star Group (NYSE:SGU)

Sky Quarry (NASDAQ:SKYQ) and Star Group (NYSE:SGU) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, risk and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Sky Quarry has a beta of 2.17, indicating that its stock price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Star Group has a beta of 0.31, indicating that its stock price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

40.4% of Star Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.1% of Sky Quarry shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.4% of Star Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Sky Quarry and Star Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sky Quarry	N/A	-232.60%	-59.42%
Star Group	4.57%	24.43%	8.39%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Sky Quarry and Star Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sky Quarry	1	0	0	0	1.00
Star Group	0	1	0	0	2.00

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sky Quarry and Star Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sky Quarry	$1.62 million	13.77	-$12.20 million	($2.73)	-0.92
Star Group	$1.78 billion	0.24	$73.50 million	$1.87	6.94

Star Group has higher revenue and earnings than Sky Quarry. Sky Quarry is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Star Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Star Group beats Sky Quarry on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sky Quarry

We are an oil production, refining, and a development-stage environmental remediation company formed to deploy technologies to facilitate the recycling of waste asphalt shingles and remediation of oil-saturated sands and soils. The recycling of asphalt shingles is expected to reduce the dependence on landfills for the removal of waste and to also reduce dependence on foreign and domestic virgin crude oil extraction for industrial uses. We have developed a process for separating oil from oily sands and other oil-bearing solids utilizing a proprietary solvent which we refer to as our ECOSolv technology or the ECOSolv process. The solvent is used in a closed-loop distillation and evaporation circuit which results in over 99% of the solvent being recoverable for continuous reuse and requires no water. The solvent has demonstrated oil separation rates of over 95% in bench testing using samples of both mined crushed ore and ground asphalt shingles. We intend to retrofit our PR Spring oil sands remediation facility, located in southeast Utah, to recycle waste asphalt shingles using our ECOSolv technology, and to produce and sell oil as well as asphalt paving aggregate mined from our bitumen deposit. We also plan to develop a modular asphalt shingle recycling facility (“ASR Facility”), which can be deployed in cities with high concentrations of waste asphalt shingles and near asphalt shingle manufacturing centers. We were incorporated in Delaware on June 4, 2019 as “Recoteq, Inc.” On April 22, 2020, we changed our name to “Sky Quarry Inc.”. Sky Quarry is a holding company and has no operations. The purpose of the holding company is to maintain ownership over our subsidiaries, create management efficiencies and establish an organizational structure to facilitate the potential acquisition of other businesses within or complementary to our industry. On September 16, 2020, we acquired 2020 Resources LLC. The assets of 2020 Resources include an oil sands remediation facility (the “PR Spring facility”) and a 100% interest in asphalt bitumen leases covering approximately 5,930 acres in the PR Spring region in Utah. On September 16, 2020, we also acquired 2020 Resources (Canada) Ltd, an entity which is currently inactive. On September 30, 2022, we acquired Foreland Refining Corporation, which is engaged in the refining of heavy crude oil into diesel and other petroleum products (naphtha, vacuum gas oil, and paving asphalt liquids) at its Eagle Springs Refinery located near Ely, Nevada. The acquisition of Foreland was immediately accretive to our revenues and cash flow and provides a strong base for growth. We believe the acquisition is a strategic fit and will form an important role in the future enabling us to vertically integrate the production and refining of oil from waste materials to energy in a sustainable and efficient manner. Sky Quarry Inc. 707 W. 700 S. Suite 101 Woods Cross, UT.

About Star Group

Star Group, L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides home heating oil and propane products and services to residential and commercial customers in the United States. It offers gasoline and diesel fuel; and installs, maintain, and repairs heating and air conditioning equipment. As of September 30, 2023, the company served approximately 402,200 full service residential and commercial home heating oil and propane customers and 52,400 customers on a delivery only basis. It also sells gasoline and diesel fuel to approximately 26,600 customers. The company was formerly known as Star Gas Partners, L.P. and changed its name to Star Group, L.P. in October 2017. Star Group, L.P. was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Stamford, Connecticut.