Head-To-Head Analysis: Anadarko Petroleum (NASDAQ:APC) & PetroQuest Energy (OTCMKTS:PQUE)

Anadarko Petroleum (NASDAQ:APC) and PetroQuest Energy (OTCMKTS:PQUE) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Anadarko Petroleum and PetroQuest Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Anadarko Petroleum	0	2	3	1	2.83
PetroQuest Energy	0	0	0	0	0.00

Anadarko Petroleum presently has a consensus price target of $21.60, indicating a potential upside of 19.07%. Given Anadarko Petroleum’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Anadarko Petroleum is more favorable than PetroQuest Energy.

Volatility and Risk

Anadarko Petroleum has a beta of 1.64, indicating that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PetroQuest Energy has a beta of 1.56, indicating that its share price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Anadarko Petroleum and PetroQuest Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Anadarko Petroleum	-4.20%	10.49%	2.68%
PetroQuest Energy	-4.93%	N/A	-3.76%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Anadarko Petroleum and PetroQuest Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Anadarko Petroleum	$5.58 billion	0.04	$615.00 million	$0.23	78.87
PetroQuest Energy	$108.29 million	0.00	-$6.63 million	($0.55)	-0.04

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

85.2% of Anadarko Petroleum shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.6% of PetroQuest Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Anadarko Petroleum shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of PetroQuest Energy shares are held by 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.

Summary

Anadarko Petroleum beats PetroQuest Energy on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Anadarko Petroleum

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of oil and gas properties. It operates through three segments: Exploration and Production, WES Midstream, and Other Midstream. The company explores for and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). It is also involved in gathering, processing, treating, and transporting oil, natural-gas, and NGLs production, as well as the gathering and disposal of produced water. The company's oil and natural gas properties are located in the United States onshore and deepwater Gulf of Mexico; and Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Colombia, Peru, and other countries. As of December 31, 2018, it had approximately 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

About PetroQuest Energy

PetroQuest Energy, Inc. operates as an independent oil and gas company in Texas and Louisiana. The company acquires, explores for, develops, and operates oil and gas properties. As of December 31, 2017, it had estimated proved reserves of 1.8 million barrels of oil; 19.4 billion cubic feet equivalent of natural gas liquids; and 125.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas. PetroQuest Energy, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.