Comparing San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (NYSE:SJT) & Riley Exploration Permian (NYSE:REPX)

Riley Exploration Permian (NYSE:REPX) and San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (NYSE:SJT) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Riley Exploration Permian and San Juan Basin Royalty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Riley Exploration Permian	0	0	3	1	3.25
San Juan Basin Royalty Trust	1	0	0	0	1.00

Riley Exploration Permian currently has a consensus target price of $43.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.29%. Given Riley Exploration Permian’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Riley Exploration Permian is more favorable than San Juan Basin Royalty Trust.

Volatility and Risk

Riley Exploration Permian has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, San Juan Basin Royalty Trust has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Riley Exploration Permian and San Juan Basin Royalty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Riley Exploration Permian	28.48%	23.82%	11.31%
San Juan Basin Royalty Trust	N/A	-37.45%	-29.01%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

58.9% of Riley Exploration Permian shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.4% of San Juan Basin Royalty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 4.2% of Riley Exploration Permian shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Riley Exploration Permian and San Juan Basin Royalty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Riley Exploration Permian	$578.21 million	1.58	$111.59 million	$4.64	8.89
San Juan Basin Royalty Trust	$10,000.00	15,013.08	-$390,000.00	($0.01)	-322.10

Riley Exploration Permian has higher revenue and earnings than San Juan Basin Royalty Trust. San Juan Basin Royalty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Riley Exploration Permian, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Riley Exploration Permian beats San Juan Basin Royalty Trust on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Riley Exploration Permian

Riley Exploration Permian, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in Texas and New Mexico. The company's activities are primarily focused on the Northwest Shelf and Yeso trend of the Permian Basin. Its acreage is primarily located on contiguous blocks in Yoakum County, Texas; and Eddy County, New Mexico. Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About San Juan Basin Royalty Trust

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust operates as an express trust in Texas. The company has a 75% net overriding royalty interest in Southland’s oil and natural gas interests in properties located in the San Juan Basin in northwestern New Mexico. It also owns subject interests consist of working interests, royalty interests, overriding royalty interests, and other contractual rights in 119,000 net-producing acres in San Juan, Rio Arriba, and Sandoval Counties of northwestern New Mexico. The company was founded in 1980 and is based in Dallas, Texas.