Head to Head Analysis: ECA Marcellus Trust I (OTCMKTS:ECT) and Evolution Petroleum (NYSE:EPM)

Evolution Petroleum (NYSE:EPM) and ECA Marcellus Trust I (OTCMKTS:ECT) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Evolution Petroleum has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ECA Marcellus Trust I has a beta of 2, suggesting that its share price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

60.1% of Evolution Petroleum shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of ECA Marcellus Trust I shares are held by institutional investors. 10.1% of Evolution Petroleum shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Evolution Petroleum and ECA Marcellus Trust I, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Evolution Petroleum	0	1	2	0	2.67
ECA Marcellus Trust I	0	0	0	0	0.00

Evolution Petroleum presently has a consensus target price of $6.10, suggesting a potential upside of 24.24%. Given Evolution Petroleum’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Evolution Petroleum is more favorable than ECA Marcellus Trust I.

Profitability

This table compares Evolution Petroleum and ECA Marcellus Trust I’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Evolution Petroleum	2.04%	2.42%	1.20%
ECA Marcellus Trust I	46.53%	4.37%	4.32%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Evolution Petroleum and ECA Marcellus Trust I”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Evolution Petroleum	$85.84 million	1.97	$4.08 million	$0.03	163.67
ECA Marcellus Trust I	$4.15 million	1.70	$2.90 million	N/A	N/A

Evolution Petroleum has higher revenue and earnings than ECA Marcellus Trust I.

Summary

Evolution Petroleum beats ECA Marcellus Trust I on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Evolution Petroleum

Evolution Petroleum Corporation, an energy company, engages in the development, production, ownership, and exploitation of onshore oil and gas properties in the United States. The company holds a non-operated interests in the SCOOP and STACK plays located in Central Oklahoma; the Chaveroo Field situated in Chaves and Roosevelt Counties, New Mexico; the Jonah Field located in Sublette County, Wyoming; the Williston Basin situated in Williston, North Dakota; the Barnett Shale field located in North Texas; the Hamilton Dome situated in Hot Springs County, Wyoming; and the Delhi Field, an onshore CO2-EOR project located in northeast Louisiana in Franklin, Madison, and Richland Parishes, as well as small overriding royalty interests in four onshore central Texas wells. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About ECA Marcellus Trust I

ECA Marcellus Trust I is a statutory trust. It owns royalty interest in producing wells and development wells. It also acquires horizontal natural gas development wells to be drilled to the Marcellus Shale formation. The company was founded in March 2010 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.