PetroTal (PTAL) Competitors

PetroTal (LON:PTAL) and Seplat Energy (LON:SEPL) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking, media sentiment and earnings.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PTAL or SEPL?

Seplat Energy received 37 more outperform votes than PetroTal when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 87.80% of users gave PetroTal an outperform vote while only 66.36% of users gave Seplat Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
PetroTal	Outperform Votes 36 87.80%	Underperform Votes 5 12.20%
Seplat Energy	Outperform Votes 73 66.36%	Underperform Votes 37 33.64%

Is PTAL or SEPL a better dividend stock?

PetroTal pays an annual dividend of GBX 5 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.2%. Seplat Energy pays an annual dividend of GBX 9 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. PetroTal pays out 4,545.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Seplat Energy pays out 8,181.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. PetroTal is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media favor PTAL or SEPL?

In the previous week, Seplat Energy had 3 more articles in the media than PetroTal. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Seplat Energy and 2 mentions for PetroTal. Seplat Energy's average media sentiment score of 0.60 beat PetroTal's score of -0.52 indicating that Seplat Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PetroTal	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative
Seplat Energy	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, PTAL or SEPL?

PetroTal has a beta of 1.9, indicating that its stock price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seplat Energy has a beta of 0.45, indicating that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, PTAL or SEPL?

PetroTal has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Seplat Energy. PetroTal is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seplat Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PetroTal	£321.86M	0.94	£129.92M	£0.11	300.00
Seplat Energy	£935.90M	1.17	£80.38M	£0.11	1,686.36

Is PTAL or SEPL more profitable?

PetroTal has a net margin of 40.37% compared to Seplat Energy's net margin of 8.59%. PetroTal's return on equity of 26.73% beat Seplat Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PetroTal	40.37%	26.73%	17.91%
Seplat Energy	8.59%	5.12%	5.52%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in PTAL or SEPL?

16.1% of PetroTal shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of Seplat Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.4% of PetroTal shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Seplat Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

PetroTal beats Seplat Energy on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.