Critical Analysis: Prairie Operating (PROP) versus Its Competitors

Prairie Operating (NASDAQ:PROP) is one of 279 publicly-traded companies in the “Crude petroleum & natural gas” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Prairie Operating to related companies based on the strength of its profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

34.3% of Prairie Operating shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.3% of shares of all “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies are held by institutional investors. 42.0% of Prairie Operating shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of shares of all “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Prairie Operating has a beta of 1.92, indicating that its stock price is 92% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prairie Operating’s peers have a beta of -14.06, indicating that their average stock price is 1,506% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Prairie Operating and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prairie Operating	N/A	-377.86%	-103.26%
Prairie Operating Competitors	-4.51%	7.25%	6.58%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Prairie Operating and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prairie Operating	$1.55 million	-$79.08 million	-1.11
Prairie Operating Competitors	$732.13 billion	$1.07 billion	32.88

Prairie Operating’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Prairie Operating. Prairie Operating is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Prairie Operating and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prairie Operating	0	0	0	0	N/A
Prairie Operating Competitors	2141	11481	16005	611	2.50

As a group, “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies have a potential upside of 26.19%. Given Prairie Operating’s peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Prairie Operating has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

Prairie Operating peers beat Prairie Operating on 7 of the 10 factors compared.

Prairie Operating Company Profile

Prairie Operating Co., an independent energy company, engages in the development, exploration, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company holds assets in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado; and the Niobrara and Codell formations. Prairie Operating Co. is based in Houston Texas.