Reviewing Montauk Renewables (NASDAQ:MNTK) & Frontline (NYSE:FRO)

Montauk Renewables (NASDAQ:MNTK) and Frontline (NYSE:FRO) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Montauk Renewables and Frontline, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Montauk Renewables	1	3	0	1	2.20
Frontline	2	5	4	0	2.18

Montauk Renewables currently has a consensus price target of $1.80, indicating a potential downside of 20.00%. Frontline has a consensus price target of $48.12, indicating a potential downside of 13.28%. Given Frontline’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Frontline is more favorable than Montauk Renewables.

Risk and Volatility

Montauk Renewables has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Frontline has a beta of 0.15, suggesting that its share price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Montauk Renewables and Frontline’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Montauk Renewables	3.40%	2.45%	1.47%
Frontline	49.47%	44.24%	20.89%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Montauk Renewables and Frontline”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Montauk Renewables	$189.10 million	1.69	$1.75 million	$0.06	37.50
Frontline	$1.97 billion	6.27	$379.08 million	$6.67	8.32

Frontline has higher revenue and earnings than Montauk Renewables. Frontline is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Montauk Renewables, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

16.4% of Montauk Renewables shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.7% of Frontline shares are owned by institutional investors. 54.3% of Montauk Renewables shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 48.1% of Frontline shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Frontline beats Montauk Renewables on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Montauk Renewables

Montauk Renewables, Inc., a renewable energy company, engages in recovery and processing of biogas from landfills and other non-fossil fuel sources. It operates in two segments, Renewable Natural Gas and Renewable Electricity Generation. The company develops, owns, and operates renewable natural gas (RNG) projects that captures methane and prevents it from being released into the atmosphere by converting it into either RNG or electrical power for the electrical grid. Its customers for RNG and renewable identification numbers (RIN) include large, long-term owner-operators of landfills and livestock farms, local utilities, and large refiners in the natural gas and refining sectors. Montauk Renewables, Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

About Frontline

Frontline plc, a shipping company, engages in the seaborne transportation of crude oil and oil products worldwide. It owns and operates oil and product tankers. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated a fleet of 70 vessels. It is also involved in the charter, purchase, and sale of vessels. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Limassol, Cyprus.