Chesapeake Energy (OTCMKTS:CHKAQ) and Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Financial Review

Chesapeake Energy (OTCMKTS:CHKAQ) and Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Chesapeake Energy and Canadian Natural Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chesapeake Energy	0	0	0	0	N/A
Canadian Natural Resources	0	5	2	0	2.29

Canadian Natural Resources has a consensus target price of $94.00, suggesting a potential upside of 25.48%. Given Canadian Natural Resources’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Canadian Natural Resources is more favorable than Chesapeake Energy.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

2.0% of Chesapeake Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.0% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Chesapeake Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Chesapeake Energy and Canadian Natural Resources’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chesapeake Energy	$8.49 billion	0.00	-$308.00 million	($54.00)	-0.06
Canadian Natural Resources	$30.25 billion	2.66	$6.10 billion	$5.54	13.52

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

Profitability

This table compares Chesapeake Energy and Canadian Natural Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chesapeake Energy	-162.46%	N/A	-3.45%
Canadian Natural Resources	20.15%	21.74%	11.25%

Risk & Volatility

Chesapeake Energy has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canadian Natural Resources has a beta of 1.52, indicating that its share price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Canadian Natural Resources beats Chesapeake Energy on 13 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chesapeake Energy

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is an independent exploration and production company, which engages in acquisition, exploration and development of properties for the production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids from underground reservoirs. It focuses on projects located in Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming. The company was founded by Aubrey K. McClendon and Tom L. Ward on May 18, 1989 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK.

About Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO). The company's midstream assets include two pipeline systems; and a 50% working interest in an 84-megawatt cogeneration plant at Primrose. It operates primarily in Western Canada; the United Kingdom portion of the North Sea; and Offshore Africa. The company was formerly known as AEX Minerals Corporation and changed its name to Canadian Natural Resources Limited in December 1975. Canadian Natural Resources Limited was incorporated in 1973 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.