Evolution Petroleum (NYSE:EPM) and Lone Pine Resources (OTCMKTS:LPRIQ) Critical Review

Evolution Petroleum (NYSE:EPM) and Lone Pine Resources (OTCMKTS:LPRIQ) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Evolution Petroleum and Lone Pine Resources”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Evolution Petroleum	$85.84 million	1.87	$4.08 million	$0.03	155.33
Lone Pine Resources	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Evolution Petroleum has higher revenue and earnings than Lone Pine Resources.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

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

Profitability

This table compares Evolution Petroleum and Lone Pine Resources’ 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%
Lone Pine Resources	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Evolution Petroleum and Lone Pine Resources, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Evolution Petroleum	0	1	2	0	2.67
Lone Pine Resources	0	0	0	0	0.00

Evolution Petroleum currently has a consensus target price of $6.10, indicating a potential upside of 30.90%. Given Evolution Petroleum’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Evolution Petroleum is more favorable than Lone Pine Resources.

Summary

Evolution Petroleum beats Lone Pine Resources on 9 of the 9 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 Lone Pine Resources

Lone Pine Resources Inc. (Lone Pine) is an independent oil and gas exploration, development, and production company with operations in Canada within the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec and the Northwest Territories. The Company focuses on the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, which includes its Narraway/Ojay and Wild River fields in the Deep Basin and its Evi field in the Peace River Arch. Lone Pine is a wholly owned subsidiary of Forest Oil Corporation, which is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas. As of December 31, 2009, the Company had approximately 322 billions of cubic feet equivalent of estimated proved reserves of which approximately 69% was natural gas and approximately 64% was classified as proved developed. As of September 30, 2010, it had approximately 1.1 million gross (.8 million net) acres of land (approximately 80% of which is undeveloped).