MV Oil Trust (NYSE:MVO) versus Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE) Head-To-Head Survey

Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE) and MV Oil Trust (NYSE:MVO) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

49.9% of Clean Energy Fuels shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.5% of MV Oil Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% of Clean Energy Fuels shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Clean Energy Fuels and MV Oil Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Clean Energy Fuels	$424.83 million	0.86	-$222.02 million	($0.44)	-3.75
MV Oil Trust	$11.31 million	0.61	$10.41 million	$0.82	0.73

MV Oil Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Clean Energy Fuels. Clean Energy Fuels is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MV Oil Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Clean Energy Fuels and MV Oil Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Clean Energy Fuels	-21.27%	-16.52%	-8.87%
MV Oil Trust	91.22%	N/A	385.23%

Volatility and Risk

Clean Energy Fuels has a beta of 1.82, indicating that its stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MV Oil Trust has a beta of -0.16, indicating that its stock price is 116% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Clean Energy Fuels and MV Oil Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Clean Energy Fuels	1	2	0	1	2.25
MV Oil Trust	1	0	0	0	1.00

Clean Energy Fuels currently has a consensus price target of $2.38, indicating a potential upside of 44.44%. Given Clean Energy Fuels’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Clean Energy Fuels is more favorable than MV Oil Trust.

Summary

Clean Energy Fuels beats MV Oil Trust on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Clean Energy Fuels

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. provides natural gas as alternative fuels for vehicle fleets and related fueling solutions in the United States and Canada. It supplies renewable natural gas (RNG), compressed natural gas (CNG), and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for medium and heavy-duty vehicles; and offers operation and maintenance services for public and private vehicle fleet customer stations. The company also designs, builds, operates, and maintains vehicle fueling stations; and sells and services compressors and other equipment that are used in RNG production and fueling stations. In addition, it transports and sells CNG, RNG, and LNG through virtual natural gas pipelines and interconnects; sells U.S. federal, state, and local government credits, such as RNG as a vehicle fuel, including Renewable Identification Numbers and Low Carbon Fuel Standards credits; and obtains federal, state, and local credits, grants, and incentives. Further, the company focuses on developing, owning, and operating dairy and other livestock waste RNG projects. It serves heavy-duty trucking, airports, refuse, public transit, industrial, and institutional energy users, as well as government fleets. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.

About MV Oil Trust

MV Oil Trust acquires and holds term net profits interests in the oil and natural gas properties of MV Partners, LLC. Its properties wells located in the Mid-Continent region in the states of Kansas and Colorado. MV Oil Trust was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Houston, Texas.