Financial Review: Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) vs. TETRA Technologies (NYSE:TTI)

TETRA Technologies (NYSE:TTI) and Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

TETRA Technologies has a beta of 2.04, meaning that its stock price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canadian Natural Resources has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.2% of TETRA Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.0% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.8% of TETRA Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for TETRA Technologies and Canadian Natural Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TETRA Technologies	0	0	2	0	3.00
Canadian Natural Resources	0	5	1	0	2.17

TETRA Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 107.72%. Canadian Natural Resources has a consensus price target of $49.50, suggesting a potential upside of 39.24%. Given TETRA Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe TETRA Technologies is more favorable than Canadian Natural Resources.

Profitability

This table compares TETRA Technologies and Canadian Natural Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TETRA Technologies	1.61%	18.84%	5.71%
Canadian Natural Resources	18.05%	22.09%	11.51%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares TETRA Technologies and Canadian Natural Resources”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TETRA Technologies	$626.26 million	0.71	$25.78 million	$0.16	21.06
Canadian Natural Resources	$42.49 billion	1.78	$6.10 billion	$2.51	14.16

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

Summary

Canadian Natural Resources beats TETRA Technologies on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TETRA Technologies

TETRA Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy services and solutions company. It operates through two segments, Completion Fluids & Products Division and Water & Flowback Services. The Completion Fluids & Products segment manufactures and markets clear brine fluids, additives, and associated products and services to the oil and gas industry for use in well drilling, completion, and workover operations in the United States, as well as in Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. This segment also markets liquid and dry calcium chloride products; and TETRA PureFlow ultra-pure zinc bromide to battery technology companies. The Water & Flowback Services segment provides water management services for onshore oil and gas operators. This segment also offers frac flowback, production well testing, and other associated services in oil and gas producing regions in the United States, as well as in various basins in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. TETRA Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

About Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO). The company’s midstream assets include two pipeline systems; and a 50% working interest in an 84-megawatt cogeneration plant at Primrose. It operates primarily in Western Canada; the United Kingdom portion of the North Sea; and Offshore Africa. The company was formerly known as AEX Minerals Corporation and changed its name to Canadian Natural Resources Limited in December 1975. Canadian Natural Resources Limited was incorporated in 1973 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.