Financial Analysis: Infinity Natural Resources (NYSE:INR) & Mexco Energy (NYSE:MXC)

Infinity Natural Resources (NYSE:INR) and Mexco Energy (NYSE:MXC) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Infinity Natural Resources has a beta of -0.1, meaning that its stock price is 110% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mexco Energy has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Infinity Natural Resources and Mexco Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Infinity Natural Resources	4.04%	10.40%	1.33%
Mexco Energy	18.73%	7.57%	6.94%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Infinity Natural Resources and Mexco Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Infinity Natural Resources	1	1	2	0	2.25
Mexco Energy	0	0	0	0	0.00

Infinity Natural Resources presently has a consensus target price of $24.50, indicating a potential upside of 40.85%. Given Infinity Natural Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Infinity Natural Resources is more favorable than Mexco Energy.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Infinity Natural Resources and Mexco Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Infinity Natural Resources	$356.43 million	3.09	$13.84 million	$0.88	19.77
Mexco Energy	$6.92 million	2.86	$1.35 million	$0.60	16.10

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

5.9% of Mexco Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 55.1% of Mexco Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Infinity Natural Resources beats Mexco Energy on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Infinity Natural Resources

We are a growth oriented, free cash flow generating, independent energy company focused on the acquisition, development, and production of hydrocarbons in the Appalachian Basin. We are focused on creating shareholder value through the identification and disciplined development of low-risk, highly economic oil and natural gas assets while maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet. Additionally, we have proven our ability to grow our acreage position through organic leasing efforts and accretive acquisitions. We are an early mover into the core of the Utica Shale’s volatile oil window in eastern Ohio as well as the emerging dry gas Utica Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania. Our Marcellus Shale development overlays our deep dry gas Utica assets in Pennsylvania, providing highly economic stacked development inventory that leverages the same company-owned midstream infrastructure. We have amassed approximately 93,000 net surface acres with exposure to the core of these plays providing us a unique and balanced portfolio of high-return oil and natural gas drilling locations. This balance allows us to optimize our development plan across our portfolio to capitalize on changes in commodity pricing over time. We believe our technical and managerial expertise allow us to execute our strategies and deliver industry leading results. Our expertise is bolstered by the continuity of our core team, which has worked together for a decade. Since our initial acquisition in southwestern Pennsylvania in March 2018, we have drilled 47 wells and increased our operated horizontal well count from 2 to 131 with an additional two PDNP wells and seven DUCs, as of December 31, 2024. In total, we have increased our net daily production from virtually zero at the beginning of 2021 to 25 Mboe/d (29% oil and 49% liquids) for the quarter ended September 30, 2024. Since quarter end, we have placed an additional seven operated Ohio Utica wells into sales representing approximately 96,000 lateral feet. — As of December 31, 2023, our total estimated proved reserves were 141,587 MBoe with 48% proved developed and 22% oil, 18% NGLs and 60% natural gas. As of December 31, 2024, our total drilling inventory consisted of 333 gross horizontal drilling locations (73 proved locations and 260 unproved locations), two PDNP wells and seven DUCs. Our drilling inventory represents 4.6 million lateral feet, implying 19 years of inventory at our current drilling pace of approximately 18 wells per year. Approximately 85% of our acreage is HBP, held by operations or held-by-storage, meaning we maintain development flexibility and have limited obligations to access our current inventory. The following table provides a summary of our approximate net acreage, gross drilling locations, net producing wells and lateral footage as of December 31, 2024 separated by shale (including acreage prospective for dual-zone development): As of December 31, 2024 Operated Operated Development Development Development Net Horizon Producing Lateral Footage Drilling Lateral Footage Average Well Acres(1) Wells (#) (in thousands) Locations (#) (in thousands) Lateral Length Utica Shale Oil (OH) 62,702 118 954 158 (3) 2,109 13,349 ‘ Marcellus Shale Dry Gas (PA)(2) 30,305 13 126 118 (4) 1,715 14,532 ‘ Utica Shale Deep Dry Gas (PA)(2) 30,029 — — 66 594 9,000 ‘(5) (1) Does not include 12,605 net acres located in the Marcellus Shale in Ohio that is not part of our development plan. (2) The acreage in this table reflects net horizon acres. Substantially all of our surface acreage in Pennsylvania is prospective for both the Utica and Marcellus Shales for dual-zone development. As a result, most of our net surface acres represent one horizon acre for the Utica Shale and one horizon acre for the Marcellus Shale. Our total net surface acreage irrespective of dual-zone development was 93,127 net acres and our total horizon acres were 123,036. (3) Includes two PDNP wells and two DUCs. (4) Includes five DUCs. (5) Utica Shale Deep Dry Gas (PA) land picture supports 14,000+ foot laterals. Our oil volumes provide us with a unique advantage compared with many of our Appalachian Basin peers. Since our initial entry into the Utica Shale’s volatile oil window in April 2021, we have increased our oil production from less than approximately 300 Bbls/d to approximately 7,110 Bbls/d for the quarter ended September 30, 2024. The increase in our oil volumes is due to a combination of strategic acquisitions and organic development of our assets by placing into sales 22 wells during that period. We have also placed an additional seven operated Ohio Utica wells into sales (approximately 96,000 lateral feet) since quarter end. We believe that the oil component of our production provides greater revenue per Boe resulting in higher operating margins compared to our natural gas focused public peers in the Appalachian Basin. Our principal executive offices are located at 2605 Cranberry Square, Morgantown, WV.

About Mexco Energy

Mexco Energy Corporation, an independent oil and gas company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of natural gas, crude oil, condensate, and natural gas liquids in the United States. It owns partial interests in approximately 6,400 gross producing wells located in the states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, Montana, Virginia, North Dakota, and Ohio. It also owned leasehold mineral, royalty, and other interests in approximately 2,768 net acres. The company was formerly known as Miller Oil Company and changed its name to Mexco Energy Corporation in April 1980. Mexco Energy Corporation was incorporated in 1972 and is based in Midland, Texas.