Head to Head Review: Black Stone Minerals (NYSE:BSM) and Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK)

Black Stone Minerals (NYSE:BSM) and Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) are both mid-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

14.5% of Black Stone Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.1% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.6% of Black Stone Minerals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Black Stone Minerals and Comstock Resources”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Black Stone Minerals	$471.51 million	6.50	$422.55 million	$1.62	8.98
Comstock Resources	$1.30 billion	3.78	$211.12 million	($0.18)	-93.33

Black Stone Minerals has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Comstock Resources. Comstock Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Black Stone Minerals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Black Stone Minerals has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Comstock Resources has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Black Stone Minerals and Comstock Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Black Stone Minerals	0	2	1	0	2.33
Comstock Resources	4	7	2	0	1.85

Black Stone Minerals presently has a consensus price target of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.92%. Comstock Resources has a consensus price target of $10.89, indicating a potential downside of 35.19%. Given Black Stone Minerals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Black Stone Minerals is more favorable than Comstock Resources.

Profitability

This table compares Black Stone Minerals and Comstock Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Black Stone Minerals	67.54%	41.49%	29.65%
Comstock Resources	-4.93%	-3.88%	-1.48%

Dividends

Black Stone Minerals pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.3%. Comstock Resources pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Black Stone Minerals pays out 92.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Comstock Resources pays out -277.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Black Stone Minerals beats Comstock Resources on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Black Stone Minerals

Black Stone Minerals, L.P., together with its subsidiaries, owns and manages oil and natural gas mineral interests. It owns mineral interests in approximately 16.8 million gross acres, nonparticipating royalty interests in 1.8 million gross acres, and overriding royalty interests in 1.6 million gross acres located in 41 states in the United States. The company was founded in 1876 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Comstock Resources

Comstock Resources, Inc., an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of natural gas and oil properties in the United States. Its assets are located in the Haynesville and Bossier shales located in North Louisiana and East Texas. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is headquartered in Frisco, Texas. Comstock Resources, Inc. is a subsidiary of Arkoma Drilling, L.P.