Contrasting Summit Midstream Partners (NYSE:SMC) & HighPeak Energy (NASDAQ:HPK)

Summit Midstream Partners (NYSE:SMC) and HighPeak Energy (NASDAQ:HPK) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Summit Midstream Partners and HighPeak Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Summit Midstream Partners	0	2	2	0	2.50
HighPeak Energy	1	1	0	1	2.33

Summit Midstream Partners currently has a consensus target price of $43.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.12%. HighPeak Energy has a consensus target price of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 44.06%. Given HighPeak Energy’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe HighPeak Energy is more favorable than Summit Midstream Partners.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Summit Midstream Partners and HighPeak Energy”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Summit Midstream Partners	$583.33 million	1.13	$8.93 million	($1.11)	-29.32
HighPeak Energy	$862.88 million	1.22	$18.96 million	($0.79)	-10.54

HighPeak Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Summit Midstream Partners. Summit Midstream Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HighPeak Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

43.0% of Summit Midstream Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.1% of HighPeak Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 43.0% of Summit Midstream Partners shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of HighPeak Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Summit Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HighPeak Energy has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Summit Midstream Partners and HighPeak Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Summit Midstream Partners	-0.06%	-0.04%	-0.01%
HighPeak Energy	-10.52%	-1.44%	-0.71%

Summary

Summit Midstream Partners beats HighPeak Energy on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Summit Midstream Partners

Summit Midstream Corporation focuses on owning, developing, and operating midstream energy infrastructure assets primarily shale formations in the continental United States. It operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering systems in four unconventional resource basins, including the Williston Basin in North Dakota, which includes the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations; the Denver-Julesburg Basin that consists of the Niobrara and Codell shale formations in Colorado and Wyoming; the Fort Worth Basin in Texas, which comprises the Barnett Shale formation; and the Piceance Basin in Colorado, which includes the Mesaverde formation, as well as the emerging Mancos and Niobrara Shale formations. It serves natural gas and crude oil producers. Summit Midstream Corporation was founded in 2012 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About HighPeak Energy

HighPeak Energy, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, engages in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.