CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI – Get Free Report) and Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE – Get Free Report) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for CVR Energy and Green Plains, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| CVR Energy | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.38 |
| Green Plains | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2.00 |
CVR Energy currently has a consensus price target of $30.50, indicating a potential downside of 29.95%. Green Plains has a consensus price target of $15.43, indicating a potential upside of 3.13%. Given Green Plains’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Green Plains is more favorable than CVR Energy.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| CVR Energy | 0.81% | -15.21% | -3.33% |
| Green Plains | 6.78% | 14.52% | 7.33% |
Risk and Volatility
CVR Energy has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Green Plains has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares CVR Energy and Green Plains”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| CVR Energy | $7.16 billion | 0.61 | $27.00 million | $0.68 | 64.03 |
| Green Plains | $2.09 billion | 0.50 | -$121.28 million | $1.59 | 9.41 |
CVR Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Green Plains. Green Plains is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CVR Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
98.9% of CVR Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 70.8% of CVR Energy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Green Plains shares are held by 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
Green Plains beats CVR Energy on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About CVR Energy
CVR Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the petroleum refining and marketing, and nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing activities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Petroleum and Nitrogen Fertilizer. The Petroleum segment refines and supplies gasoline, crude oil, distillate, diesel fuel, and other refined products. This segment also owns and operates a coking medium-sour crude oil refinery in southeast Kansas; and a crude oil refinery in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, as well as supporting logistics assets. This segment primarily serves retailers, railroads, farm cooperatives, and other refiners/marketers. The Nitrogen Fertilizer segment owns and operates a nitrogen fertilizer plant in North America that utilizes a pet coke gasification process to produce nitrogen fertilizer products; and a nitrogen fertilizer facility in East Dubuque, Illinois that produces nitrogen fertilizers in the form of ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN), nitric acid, and liquid and granulated urea. This segment primarily markets UAN products to agricultural customers; and ammonia products to agricultural and industrial customers. The company was founded in 1906 and is based in Sugar Land, Texas. CVR Energy, Inc. is a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P.
About Green Plains
Green Plains Inc. produces low-carbon fuels in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Ethanol Production, Agribusiness and Energy Services, and Partnership. The Ethanol Production segment produces ethanol, distillers grains, and ultra-high protein and renewable corn oil. The Agribusiness and Energy Services segment engages in the grain procurement, handling and storage, commodity marketing business; and trading of ethanol, distiller grains, renewable corn oil, grain, natural gas, and other commodities in various markets. This segment also provides grain drying and storage services to grain producers. The Partnership segment offers fuel storage and transportation services. It operates 24 ethanol storage facilities; two fuel terminal facilities; and a fleet of approximately 2,180 leased railcars. The company was formerly known as Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. and changed its name to Green Plains Inc. in May 2014. Green Plains Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
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