Financial Analysis: OPAL Fuels (NASDAQ:OPAL) & Gevo (NASDAQ:GEVO)

Gevo (NASDAQ:GEVO) and OPAL Fuels (NASDAQ:OPAL) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Gevo and OPAL Fuels”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gevo	$120.93 million	4.35	-$78.64 million	($0.20)	-10.85
OPAL Fuels	$299.97 million	1.21	$11.03 million	$0.02	105.00

OPAL Fuels has higher revenue and earnings than Gevo. Gevo is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than OPAL Fuels, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

35.2% of Gevo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.2% of OPAL Fuels shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.8% of Gevo shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 84.6% of OPAL Fuels shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Gevo and OPAL Fuels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gevo	-37.33%	-9.49%	-6.82%
OPAL Fuels	-1.02%	-1.84%	-0.37%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Gevo and OPAL Fuels, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gevo	1	2	2	1	2.50
OPAL Fuels	2	4	0	0	1.67

Gevo presently has a consensus target price of $6.42, suggesting a potential upside of 195.70%. OPAL Fuels has a consensus target price of $2.81, suggesting a potential upside of 33.93%. Given Gevo’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Gevo is more favorable than OPAL Fuels.

Risk & Volatility

Gevo has a beta of 1.44, indicating that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OPAL Fuels has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

OPAL Fuels beats Gevo on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gevo

Gevo, Inc. operates as a carbon abatement company. It operates through three segments: Gevo, Agri-Energy, and Renewable Natural Gas. The company focuses on transforming renewable energy into energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons that can be used as renewable fuels. It offers renewable gasoline and diesel, isobutanol, sustainable aviation fuel, renewable natural gas, isobutylene, ethanol, and animal feed and protein. The company was formerly known as Methanotech, Inc. and changed its name to Gevo, Inc. in March 2006. Gevo, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado.

About OPAL Fuels

OPAL Fuels Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and distribution of renewable natural gas for use as a vehicle fuel for heavy and medium-duty trucking fleets. It also designs, develops, constructs, operates, and services fueling stations for trucking fleets that use natural gas to displace diesel as transportation fuel. In addition, it offers design, development, and construction services for hydrogen fueling stations. Further, the company engages in the generation and sale of renewable power to utilities. OPAL Fuels Inc. is based in White Plains, New York.