California Resources (NYSE:CRC) and HighPeak Energy (NASDAQ:HPK) Critical Survey

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) and HighPeak Energy (NASDAQ:HPK) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
California Resources	9.89%	10.23%	5.19%
HighPeak Energy	2.33%	2.11%	1.09%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for California Resources and HighPeak Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
California Resources	0	3	9	3	3.00
HighPeak Energy	2	0	0	1	2.00

California Resources presently has a consensus price target of $71.20, suggesting a potential upside of 4.35%. HighPeak Energy has a consensus price target of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 79.64%. Given HighPeak Energy’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe HighPeak Energy is more favorable than California Resources.

Volatility & Risk

California Resources has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HighPeak Energy has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.8% of California Resources shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.1% of HighPeak Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of California Resources shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 78.9% of HighPeak Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares California Resources and HighPeak Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
California Resources	$3.40 billion	1.78	$363.00 million	$4.08	16.72
HighPeak Energy	$863.36 million	0.98	$18.96 million	$0.09	74.22

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

Dividends

California Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. HighPeak Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. California Resources pays out 39.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. HighPeak Energy pays out 177.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. California Resources has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and HighPeak Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

California Resources beats HighPeak Energy on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation operates as an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production, and carbon management company in the United States. The company explores, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids for marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities. It also engages in the generation and sale of electricity to the wholesale power market and utility sector; and developing various carbon capture and storage projects in California. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Long Beach, California.

About HighPeak Energy

HighPeak Energy, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, engages in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.