Reviewing Ener-Core (OTCMKTS:ENCR) and XPLR Infrastructure (NYSE:XIFR)

XPLR Infrastructure (NYSE:XIFR) and Ener-Core (OTCMKTS:ENCR) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

XPLR Infrastructure has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ener-Core has a beta of -7.81, indicating that its share price is 881% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for XPLR Infrastructure and Ener-Core, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
XPLR Infrastructure	2	4	1	0	1.86
Ener-Core	0	0	0	0	0.00

XPLR Infrastructure currently has a consensus target price of $12.33, indicating a potential upside of 7.71%. Given XPLR Infrastructure’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe XPLR Infrastructure is more favorable than Ener-Core.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares XPLR Infrastructure and Ener-Core”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
XPLR Infrastructure	$1.19 billion	0.91	-$28.00 million	$0.65	17.62
Ener-Core	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Ener-Core has lower revenue, but higher earnings than XPLR Infrastructure.

Profitability

This table compares XPLR Infrastructure and Ener-Core’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
XPLR Infrastructure	5.24%	0.61%	0.34%
Ener-Core	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

66.0% of XPLR Infrastructure shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of XPLR Infrastructure shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Ener-Core shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

XPLR Infrastructure beats Ener-Core on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About XPLR Infrastructure

XPLR Infrastructure LP engages in the acquisition, management, and ownership of contracted clean energy projects with long-term cash flows. It owns interests in wind and solar projects in North America and natural gas infrastructure assets in Texas. The company was founded on March 6, 2014 and is headquartered in Juno Beach, FL.

About Ener-Core

Ener-Core, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, license, and market its products that are based on Power Oxidizer technologies. The company's Power Oxidizer technology generates industrial levels of usable heat in a pressure vessel using various organic gases as fuel for an oxidation reaction. Its products include Ener-Core PowerStation EC250 and Ener-Core Powerstation KG2-3GEF/PO, which have applications in landfills, distilleries, and various industrial processes. The company sells its products directly, as well as through distributors in the United States and the Netherlands. Ener-Core, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.