Reviewing Sanchez Energy (OTCMKTS:SNEC) & Gran Tierra Energy (NYSE:GTE)

Gran Tierra Energy (NYSE:GTE) and Sanchez Energy (OTCMKTS:SNEC) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Gran Tierra Energy and Sanchez Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gran Tierra Energy	0	1	2	0	2.67
Sanchez Energy	0	0	0	0	0.00

Gran Tierra Energy currently has a consensus price target of $5.45, suggesting a potential upside of 26.74%. Given Gran Tierra Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Gran Tierra Energy is more favorable than Sanchez Energy.

Profitability

This table compares Gran Tierra Energy and Sanchez Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gran Tierra Energy	7.17%	11.36%	3.28%
Sanchez Energy	2.22%	-18.15%	3.09%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Gran Tierra Energy and Sanchez Energy”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gran Tierra Energy	$614.07 million	0.25	-$6.29 million	($2.51)	-1.71
Sanchez Energy	$1.06 billion	0.00	$85.21 million	N/A	N/A

Sanchez Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Gran Tierra Energy.

Risk & Volatility

Gran Tierra Energy has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sanchez Energy has a beta of 1.71, suggesting that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

31.7% of Gran Tierra Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.6% of Sanchez Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of Gran Tierra Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of Sanchez Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Gran Tierra Energy beats Sanchez Energy on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gran Tierra Energy

Gran Tierra Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and production of oil and gas properties in Colombia and Ecuador. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

About Sanchez Energy

Sanchez Energy Corporation, an independent exploration and production company, focuses on the acquisition and development of onshore unconventional oil and natural gas resources in the United States. It engages in the horizontal development of resources from the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. It also holds an undeveloped acreage position in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) in Mississippi and Louisiana. As of December 31, 2018, the company had assembled approximately 271,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale; and owned approximately 34,000 net acres in the TMS. Sanchez Energy Corporation was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.