Financial Survey: ERHC Energy (OTCMKTS:ERHE) and Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR)

ERHC Energy (OTCMKTS:ERHE) and Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

ERHC Energy has a beta of -5.3, indicating that its stock price is 630% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Murphy Oil has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for ERHC Energy and Murphy Oil, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ERHC Energy	0	0	0	0	0.00
Murphy Oil	3	13	0	0	1.81

Murphy Oil has a consensus price target of $29.85, suggesting a potential downside of 4.93%. Given Murphy Oil’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Murphy Oil is more favorable than ERHC Energy.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ERHC Energy and Murphy Oil”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ERHC Energy	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Murphy Oil	$3.03 billion	1.48	$407.17 million	$0.98	32.04

Murphy Oil has higher revenue and earnings than ERHC Energy.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

78.3% of Murphy Oil shares are held by institutional investors. 4.9% of ERHC Energy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Murphy Oil shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares ERHC Energy and Murphy Oil’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ERHC Energy	N/A	N/A	N/A
Murphy Oil	5.16%	4.30%	2.34%

Summary

Murphy Oil beats ERHC Energy on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ERHC Energy

ERHC Energy Inc. engages in the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas resources in Africa. Its principal assets include the rights to working interests in exploration acreage in the Republic of Kenya; the Republic of Chad; the Joint Development Zone between the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe; the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and the economic zone of Sao Tome. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964. The company was incorporated in 1950 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.