Head to Head Analysis: Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR) & HKN (OTCMKTS:HKNI)

Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR) and HKN (OTCMKTS:HKNI) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.0% of Matador Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 5.8% of Matador Resources shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of HKN shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Matador Resources and HKN, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matador Resources	0	2	13	1	2.94
HKN	0	0	0	0	0.00

Matador Resources currently has a consensus price target of $67.60, suggesting a potential upside of 36.90%. Given Matador Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Matador Resources is more favorable than HKN.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Matador Resources and HKN”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Matador Resources	$3.50 billion	1.75	$885.32 million	$6.83	7.23
HKN	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Matador Resources has higher revenue and earnings than HKN.

Profitability

This table compares Matador Resources and HKN’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matador Resources	22.57%	16.53%	8.27%
HKN	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Matador Resources beats HKN on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Matador Resources

Matador Resources Company, an independent energy company, engages in the exploration, development, production, and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources in the United States. It operates through two segments, Exploration and Production; and Midstream. The company primarily holds interests in the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring plays in the Delaware Basin in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. It also operates the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas; and the Haynesville shale and Cotton Valley plays in Northwest Louisiana. In addition, the company conducts midstream operations in support of its exploration, development, and production operations. Further, it provides natural gas processing and oil transportation services; and oil, natural gas, and produced water gathering services, as well as produced water disposal services to third parties. The company sells natural gas to unaffiliated independent marketing companies and unaffiliated midstream companies. The company was formerly known as Matador Holdco, Inc. and changed its name to Matador Resources Company in August 2011. Matador Resources Company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About HKN

HKN, Inc. operates as an independent energy company. The company owns an oilfield emulsion breaking technology that purifies oilfield emulsions by breaking and separating the emulsions into oil, water, and solids. It also holds non-operated oil and gas leases and mineral interests in properties located in the Bakken and Niobrara shale oil plays; and rights to acreage in the Permian Basin of Texas. The company was founded in 1973 and is based in Southlake, Texas.