Comparing Mesa Royalty Trust (NYSE:MTR) and MV Oil Trust (NYSE:MVO)

Dividends

MV Oil Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.9%. Mesa Royalty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.9%. MV Oil Trust pays out 84.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mesa Royalty Trust pays out 204.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mesa Royalty Trust has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. MV Oil Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MV Oil Trust and Mesa Royalty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MV Oil Trust	$16.01 million	4.17	$17.65 million	$1.31	4.44
Mesa Royalty Trust	$576,470.00	18.33	$460,000.00	$0.22	25.77

MV Oil Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Mesa Royalty Trust. MV Oil Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mesa Royalty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares MV Oil Trust and Mesa Royalty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MV Oil Trust	94.10%	N/A	374.87%
Mesa Royalty Trust	73.26%	13.48%	13.12%

Risk & Volatility

MV Oil Trust has a beta of -0.18, suggesting that its stock price is 118% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mesa Royalty Trust has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

3.5% of MV Oil Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.7% of Mesa Royalty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

MV Oil Trust beats Mesa Royalty Trust on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MV Oil Trust

MV Oil Trust acquires and holds term net profits interests in the oil and natural gas properties of MV Partners, LLC. Its properties wells located in the Mid-Continent region in the states of Kansas and Colorado. MV Oil Trust was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Mesa Royalty Trust

Mesa Royalty Trust owns overriding royalty interests in various oil and gas producing properties in the United States. It holds interests in properties located in the Hugoton field of Kansas; and the San Juan Basin field of Northwestern New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Houston, Texas.