Financial Contrast: Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE) and Mach Natural Resources (NYSE:MNR)

Mach Natural Resources (NYSE:MNR) and Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Mach Natural Resources has a beta of -0.22, indicating that its share price is 122% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clean Energy Fuels has a beta of 1.89, indicating that its share price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Mach Natural Resources and Clean Energy Fuels, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mach Natural Resources	0	4	3	1	2.62
Clean Energy Fuels	1	2	0	1	2.25

Mach Natural Resources currently has a consensus price target of $16.67, suggesting a potential upside of 57.46%. Clean Energy Fuels has a consensus price target of $2.38, suggesting a potential upside of 66.67%. Given Clean Energy Fuels’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Clean Energy Fuels is more favorable than Mach Natural Resources.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

78.4% of Mach Natural Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.9% of Clean Energy Fuels shares are owned by institutional investors. 87.8% of Mach Natural Resources shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Clean Energy Fuels shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Mach Natural Resources and Clean Energy Fuels”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mach Natural Resources	$1.35 billion	1.31	$142.98 million	$0.59	17.94
Clean Energy Fuels	$424.83 million	0.74	-$222.02 million	($0.44)	-3.25

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

Profitability

This table compares Mach Natural Resources and Clean Energy Fuels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mach Natural Resources	7.44%	16.06%	8.23%
Clean Energy Fuels	-21.27%	-16.52%	-8.87%

Summary

Mach Natural Resources beats Clean Energy Fuels on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mach Natural Resources

Mach Natural Resources LP, an independent upstream oil and gas company, focuses on the acquisition, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves in the Anadarko Basin region of Western Oklahoma, Southern Kansas, and the panhandle of Texas. It also owns a portfolio of midstream assets, as well as owns plants and water infrastructure. The company was incorporated in 2023 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About Clean Energy Fuels

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. provides natural gas as alternative fuels for vehicle fleets and related fueling solutions in the United States and Canada. It supplies renewable natural gas (RNG), compressed natural gas (CNG), and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for medium and heavy-duty vehicles; and offers operation and maintenance services for public and private vehicle fleet customer stations. The company also designs, builds, operates, and maintains vehicle fueling stations; and sells and services compressors and other equipment that are used in RNG production and fueling stations. In addition, it transports and sells CNG, RNG, and LNG through virtual natural gas pipelines and interconnects; sells U.S. federal, state, and local government credits, such as RNG as a vehicle fuel, including Renewable Identification Numbers and Low Carbon Fuel Standards credits; and obtains federal, state, and local credits, grants, and incentives. Further, the company focuses on developing, owning, and operating dairy and other livestock waste RNG projects. It serves heavy-duty trucking, airports, refuse, public transit, industrial, and institutional energy users, as well as government fleets. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.