Financial Survey: APA (NASDAQ:APA) and Sky Petroleum (OTCMKTS:SKPI)

APA (NASDAQ:APA) and Sky Petroleum (OTCMKTS:SKPI) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for APA and Sky Petroleum, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
APA	4	19	7	1	2.16
Sky Petroleum	0	0	0	0	0.00

APA currently has a consensus target price of $39.50, indicating a potential downside of 2.03%. Given APA’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe APA is more favorable than Sky Petroleum.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares APA and Sky Petroleum”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
APA	$8.92 billion	1.60	$1.43 billion	$3.99	10.11
Sky Petroleum	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

APA has higher revenue and earnings than Sky Petroleum.

Profitability

This table compares APA and Sky Petroleum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
APA	15.55%	19.89%	7.51%
Sky Petroleum	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.0% of APA shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of APA shares are owned by 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

APA beats Sky Petroleum on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About APA

APA Corporation, an independent energy company, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. It has oil and gas operations in the United States, Egypt, and North Sea. The company also has exploration and appraisal activities in Suriname, as well as holds interests in projects located in Uruguay and internationally. APA Corporation was incorporated in 1954 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Sky Petroleum

Sky Petroleum, Inc. acquires, explores, develops, and produces oil and natural gas properties of others under arrangements in which the company finances the costs in exchange for interests in the oil or natural gas revenue generated by the properties. It has a production sharing contract with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy of Albania for three exploration blocks, including Four, Five, and Dumre blocks in the Republic of Albania. The company was formerly known as Seaside Explorations, Inc. and changed its name to Sky Petroleum, Inc. in March 2005. Sky Petroleum, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is based in Frisco, Texas.