Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) & Amplify Energy (NYSE:AMPY) Critical Comparison

Amplify Energy (NYSE:AMPY) and Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Amplify Energy and Range Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amplify Energy	0	1	2	0	2.67
Range Resources	1	14	4	0	2.16

Amplify Energy presently has a consensus price target of $6.00, indicating a potential downside of 8.47%. Range Resources has a consensus price target of $42.76, indicating a potential downside of 10.19%. Given Amplify Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Amplify Energy is more favorable than Range Resources.

Volatility and Risk

Amplify Energy has a beta of -0.15, indicating that its stock price is 115% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Range Resources has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Amplify Energy and Range Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amplify Energy	16.69%	-4.10%	-2.39%
Range Resources	21.12%	16.31%	9.29%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Amplify Energy and Range Resources”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amplify Energy	$263.36 million	1.03	$43.97 million	$0.98	6.69
Range Resources	$3.12 billion	3.60	$658.02 million	$2.74	17.38

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

42.8% of Amplify Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.9% of Range Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.3% of Amplify Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Range Resources shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Range Resources beats Amplify Energy on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amplify Energy

Amplify Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, development, exploitation, and production of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. The company’s properties consist of operated and non-operated working interests in producing and undeveloped leasehold acreage, as well as working interests in identified producing wells located in Oklahoma, the Rockies, federal waters offshore Southern California, East Texas/North Louisiana, and Eagle Ford. The company is based in Houston, Texas.

About Range Resources

Range Resources Corporation operates as an independent natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, and condensate company in the United States. The company engages in the exploration, development, and acquisition of natural gas and crude oil properties located in the Appalachian region. It sells natural gas to utilities, marketing and midstream companies, and industrial users; NGLs to petrochemical end users, marketers/traders, and natural gas processors; and oil and condensate to crude oil processors, transporters, and refining and marketing companies. The company was formerly known as Lomak Petroleum Inc. and changed its name to Range Resources Corporation in August 1998. Range Resources Corporation was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.