Critical Survey: Sky Quarry (NASDAQ:SKYQ) versus Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR)

Sky Quarry (NASDAQ:SKYQ) and Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Sky Quarry has a beta of 2.16, indicating that its stock price is 116% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Matador Resources has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.0% of Matador Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.1% of Sky Quarry shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Matador 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 summary of recent recommendations for Sky Quarry and Matador Resources, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sky Quarry	1	0	0	0	1.00
Matador Resources	0	4	11	1	2.81

Matador Resources has a consensus price target of $65.93, indicating a potential upside of 11.12%. Given Matador Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Matador Resources is more favorable than Sky Quarry.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sky Quarry and Matador Resources”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sky Quarry	$12.49 million	1.83	-$12.20 million	($2.73)	-0.95
Matador Resources	$3.70 billion	1.99	$759.22 million	$5.83	10.18

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

Profitability

This table compares Sky Quarry and Matador Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sky Quarry	-97.65%	-232.60%	-59.42%
Matador Resources	19.85%	13.18%	6.46%

Summary

Matador Resources beats Sky Quarry on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sky Quarry

We are an oil production, refining, and a development-stage environmental remediation company formed to deploy technologies to facilitate the recycling of waste asphalt shingles and remediation of oil-saturated sands and soils. The recycling of asphalt shingles is expected to reduce the dependence on landfills for the removal of waste and to also reduce dependence on foreign and domestic virgin crude oil extraction for industrial uses. We have developed a process for separating oil from oily sands and other oil-bearing solids utilizing a proprietary solvent which we refer to as our ECOSolv technology or the ECOSolv process. The solvent is used in a closed-loop distillation and evaporation circuit which results in over 99% of the solvent being recoverable for continuous reuse and requires no water. The solvent has demonstrated oil separation rates of over 95% in bench testing using samples of both mined crushed ore and ground asphalt shingles. We intend to retrofit our PR Spring oil sands remediation facility, located in southeast Utah, to recycle waste asphalt shingles using our ECOSolv technology, and to produce and sell oil as well as asphalt paving aggregate mined from our bitumen deposit. We also plan to develop a modular asphalt shingle recycling facility (“ASR Facility”), which can be deployed in cities with high concentrations of waste asphalt shingles and near asphalt shingle manufacturing centers. We were incorporated in Delaware on June 4, 2019 as “Recoteq, Inc.” On April 22, 2020, we changed our name to “Sky Quarry Inc.”. Sky Quarry is a holding company and has no operations. The purpose of the holding company is to maintain ownership over our subsidiaries, create management efficiencies and establish an organizational structure to facilitate the potential acquisition of other businesses within or complementary to our industry. On September 16, 2020, we acquired 2020 Resources LLC. The assets of 2020 Resources include an oil sands remediation facility (the “PR Spring facility”) and a 100% interest in asphalt bitumen leases covering approximately 5,930 acres in the PR Spring region in Utah. On September 16, 2020, we also acquired 2020 Resources (Canada) Ltd, an entity which is currently inactive. On September 30, 2022, we acquired Foreland Refining Corporation, which is engaged in the refining of heavy crude oil into diesel and other petroleum products (naphtha, vacuum gas oil, and paving asphalt liquids) at its Eagle Springs Refinery located near Ely, Nevada. The acquisition of Foreland was immediately accretive to our revenues and cash flow and provides a strong base for growth. We believe the acquisition is a strategic fit and will form an important role in the future enabling us to vertically integrate the production and refining of oil from waste materials to energy in a sustainable and efficient manner. Sky Quarry Inc. 707 W. 700 S. Suite 101 Woods Cross, UT.

About Matador Resources

Matador Resources Company, an independent energy company, engages in the exploration, development, production, and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources in the United States. It operates through two segments, Exploration and Production; and Midstream. The company primarily holds interests in the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring plays in the Delaware Basin in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. It also operates the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas; and the Haynesville shale and Cotton Valley plays in Northwest Louisiana. In addition, the company conducts midstream operations in support of its exploration, development, and production operations. Further, it provides natural gas processing and oil transportation services; and oil, natural gas, and produced water gathering services, as well as produced water disposal services to third parties. The company sells natural gas to unaffiliated independent marketing companies and unaffiliated midstream companies. The company was formerly known as Matador Holdco, Inc. and changed its name to Matador Resources Company in August 2011. Matador Resources Company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.