Comparing Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) and PEDEVCO (NYSE:PED)

PEDEVCO (NYSE:PED) and Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for PEDEVCO and Diamondback Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PEDEVCO	0	0	2	0	3.00
Diamondback Energy	0	2	19	2	3.00

PEDEVCO presently has a consensus target price of $1.63, indicating a potential upside of 197.95%. Diamondback Energy has a consensus target price of $208.17, indicating a potential upside of 59.86%. Given PEDEVCO’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe PEDEVCO is more favorable than Diamondback Energy.

Risk & Volatility

PEDEVCO has a beta of 0.29, suggesting that its share price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Diamondback Energy has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.3% of PEDEVCO shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of Diamondback Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 70.6% of PEDEVCO shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Diamondback Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares PEDEVCO and Diamondback Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PEDEVCO	6.57%	1.58%	1.39%
Diamondback Energy	33.64%	13.68%	7.93%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares PEDEVCO and Diamondback Energy”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PEDEVCO	$39.55 million	1.26	$260,000.00	$0.20	2.73
Diamondback Energy	$11.02 billion	3.47	$3.14 billion	$15.80	8.24

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

Summary

Diamondback Energy beats PEDEVCO on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PEDEVCO

PEDEVCO Corp., an oil and gas company, focuses on the acquisition, development, and production of oil and natural gas assets in the United States. It holds interests in the Permian Basin asset covering an area of approximately 22,721 net acres located in New Mexico; and D-J Basin asset covering an area of approximately 19,214 net acres located in Wyoming. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, develops, explores, and exploits unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. It focuses on the development of the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations of the Midland basin; and the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations of the Delaware basin, which are part of the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico. The company also owns and operates midstream infrastructure assets, in the Midland and Delaware Basins of the Permian Basin. Diamondback Energy, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.