Analyzing California Resources (CRC) & The Competition

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) is one of 1,051 publicly-traded companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare California Resources to similar businesses based on the strength of its profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Dividends

California Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. California Resources pays out -29.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.1% and pay out -135.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. California Resources has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. California Resources lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares California Resources and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
California Resources	$3.95 billion	$363.00 million	-8.33
California Resources Competitors	$14.85 billion	$5.51 billion	-1.07

California Resources’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than California Resources. California Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for California Resources and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
California Resources	1	2	9	1	2.77
California Resources Competitors	5992	27027	40901	2431	2.52

California Resources presently has a consensus price target of $74.44, indicating a potential upside of 57.65%. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 28.06%. Given California Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe California Resources is more favorable than its competitors.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.8% of California Resources shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.7% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of California Resources shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.5% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

California Resources has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, California Resources’ competitors have a beta of -3.76, indicating that their average stock price is 476% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares California Resources and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
California Resources	-18.11%	9.56%	4.29%
California Resources Competitors	-455.74%	19.71%	6.77%

Summary

California Resources competitors beat California Resources on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation is an independent energy company focused on developing and producing oil and natural gas in California. Its operations include exploration, production and management of energy resources, with products that include crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company was formed in 2014 when it separated from Occidental Petroleum. Its activities are concentrated in California, where it operates across several major oil-producing regions. In 2024, California Resources completed its acquisition of Aera Energy, expanding its California operations.