Head to Head Contrast: Black Stone Minerals (NYSE:BSM) & Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK)

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

Risk and Volatility

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

Profitability

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

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

36.1% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.5% of Black Stone Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Comstock Resources shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 18.6% of Black Stone Minerals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Comstock Resources	$1.57 billion	3.14	$211.12 million	($0.18)	-93.33
Black Stone Minerals	$592.22 million	5.17	$422.55 million	$1.62	8.98

Black Stone Minerals has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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.

Analyst Recommendations

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Comstock Resources	4	8	2	0	1.86
Black Stone Minerals	0	2	1	0	2.33

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

Summary

Black Stone Minerals beats Comstock Resources on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

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.