U.S. Energy (USEG) Competitors

U.S. Energy (NASDAQ:USEG) and Gran Tierra Energy (NYSE:GTE) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings, risk, media sentiment, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer USEG or GTE?

U.S. Energy received 192 more outperform votes than Gran Tierra Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.50% of users gave Gran Tierra Energy an outperform vote while only 51.04% of users gave U.S. Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
U.S. Energy	Outperform Votes 197 51.04%	Underperform Votes 189 48.96%
Gran Tierra Energy	Outperform Votes 5 62.50%	Underperform Votes 3 37.50%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of USEG or GTE?

3.0% of U.S. Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.7% of Gran Tierra Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 70.9% of U.S. Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Gran Tierra Energy shares are owned by company 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.

Is USEG or GTE more profitable?

Gran Tierra Energy has a net margin of 7.17% compared to U.S. Energy's net margin of -141.51%. Gran Tierra Energy's return on equity of 11.36% beat U.S. Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U.S. Energy	-141.51%	-71.83%	-39.03%
Gran Tierra Energy	7.17%	11.36%	3.28%

Do analysts rate USEG or GTE?

U.S. Energy presently has a consensus price target of $3.50, indicating a potential upside of 163.16%. Given U.S. Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe U.S. Energy is more favorable than Gran Tierra Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U.S. Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Gran Tierra Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has more volatility & risk, USEG or GTE?

U.S. Energy has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gran Tierra Energy has a beta of 1.45, suggesting that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor USEG or GTE?

In the previous week, U.S. Energy had 14 more articles in the media than Gran Tierra Energy. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for U.S. Energy and 2 mentions for Gran Tierra Energy. Gran Tierra Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.77 beat U.S. Energy's score of 1.09 indicating that Gran Tierra Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
U.S. Energy	3 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Gran Tierra Energy	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, USEG or GTE?

Gran Tierra Energy has higher revenue and earnings than U.S. Energy. U.S. Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Gran Tierra Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U.S. Energy	$20.62M	2.18	-$32.36M	-$0.98	-1.36
Gran Tierra Energy	$621.85M	0.28	-$6.29M	$0.16	30.75

Summary

Gran Tierra Energy beats U.S. Energy on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.