California Resources (NYSE:CRC) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Critical Contrast

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) and California Resources (NYSE:CRC) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Occidental Petroleum and California Resources”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Occidental Petroleum	$28.92 billion	1.62	$4.70 billion	$4.06	12.70
California Resources	$2.31 billion	1.56	$564.00 million	$3.49	15.03

Occidental Petroleum has higher revenue and earnings than California Resources. Occidental Petroleum is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than California Resources, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Occidental Petroleum and California Resources, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Occidental Petroleum	1	11	5	1	2.33
California Resources	0	1	9	0	2.90

Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus target price of $65.72, suggesting a potential upside of 27.42%. California Resources has a consensus target price of $65.50, suggesting a potential upside of 24.90%. Given Occidental Petroleum’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Occidental Petroleum is more favorable than California Resources.

Profitability

This table compares Occidental Petroleum and California Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Occidental Petroleum	16.62%	17.91%	5.42%
California Resources	7.61%	11.27%	5.80%

Risk and Volatility

Occidental Petroleum has a beta of 1.57, meaning that its stock price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, California Resources has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

88.7% of Occidental Petroleum shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.8% of California Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Occidental Petroleum shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of California Resources shares are held by 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.

Dividends

Occidental Petroleum pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. California Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Occidental Petroleum pays out 21.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. California Resources pays out 44.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

Occidental Petroleum beats California Resources on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The company's Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas. Its Chemical segment manufactures and markets basic chemicals, including chlorine, caustic soda, chlorinated organics, potassium chemicals, ethylene dichloride, chlorinated isocyanurates, sodium silicates, and calcium chloride; and vinyls comprising vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride, and ethylene. The Midstream and Marketing segment gathers, processes, transports, stores, purchases, and markets oil, condensate, NGLs, natural gas, carbon dioxide, and power. This segment also invests in entities. Occidental Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation operates as an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production, and carbon management company in the United States. The company explores, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids for marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities. It also engages in the generation and sale of electricity to the wholesale power market and utility sector; and developing various carbon capture and storage projects in California. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Long Beach, California.