Critical Analysis: Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) vs. Crescent Energy (NYSE:CRGY)

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) and Crescent Energy (NYSE:CRGY) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Ormat Technologies and Crescent Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ormat Technologies	0	4	8	0	2.67
Crescent Energy	1	3	8	2	2.79

Ormat Technologies presently has a consensus target price of $133.18, suggesting a potential downside of 6.54%. Crescent Energy has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 31.31%. Given Crescent Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Crescent Energy is more favorable than Ormat Technologies.

Volatility & Risk

Ormat Technologies has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crescent Energy has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ormat Technologies and Crescent Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ormat Technologies	$1.16 billion	7.53	$123.90 million	$2.06	69.18
Crescent Energy	$3.58 billion	1.12	$132.91 million	($0.75)	-16.25

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

Dividends

Ormat Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Crescent Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Ormat Technologies pays out 23.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crescent Energy pays out -64.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Crescent Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Crescent Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Ormat Technologies and Crescent Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ormat Technologies	10.97%	6.61%	2.80%
Crescent Energy	-7.47%	8.10%	3.47%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.5% of Ormat Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.1% of Crescent Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ormat Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.2% of Crescent Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Crescent Energy beats Ormat Technologies on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ormat Technologies

Ormat Technologies, Inc. engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power business in the United States, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, Chile, Guatemala, Guadeloupe, New Zealand, Honduras, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Electricity, Product, and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment develops, builds, owns, and operates geothermal, solar photovoltaic, and recovered energy-based power plants; and sells electricity. The Product segment designs, manufactures, and sells equipment for geothermal and recovered energy-based electricity generation; and provides services relating to the engineering, procurement, construction, operation, and maintenance of geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants. This segment serves contractors; and owners and operators of interstate natural gas pipelines, gas processing plants, and cement plants, as well as companies in other energy-intensive industrial processes. The Energy Storage segment offers battery energy storage systems and related services. Ormat Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.

About Crescent Energy

Crescent Energy Company acquires, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs) reserves. Its portfolio of assets comprises mid-cycle unconventional and conventional assets in the Eagle Ford and Uinta Basins. It also owns and operates various midstream assets, which provide services to customers. The company is based in Houston, Texas.