Comparing Permianville Royalty Trust (NYSE:PVL) & Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE)

Permianville Royalty Trust (NYSE:PVL) and Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, profitability, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

6.8% of Permianville Royalty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.2% of Cenovus Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Permianville Royalty Trust and Cenovus Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Permianville Royalty Trust	0	0	0	0	N/A
Cenovus Energy	0	0	5	0	3.00

Cenovus Energy has a consensus price target of $26.67, suggesting a potential upside of 27.90%. Given Cenovus Energy’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cenovus Energy is more favorable than Permianville Royalty Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Permianville Royalty Trust and Cenovus Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Permianville Royalty Trust	31.22%	24.89%	24.89%
Cenovus Energy	7.88%	14.85%	7.61%

Volatility & Risk

Permianville Royalty Trust has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cenovus Energy has a beta of 2.15, suggesting that its stock price is 115% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Permianville Royalty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Cenovus Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.41 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Permianville Royalty Trust pays out 16.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cenovus Energy pays out 25.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Cenovus Energy has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Permianville Royalty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Permianville Royalty Trust and Cenovus Energy’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Permianville Royalty Trust	$10.35 million	4.69	$10.60 million	$0.43	3.42
Cenovus Energy	$38.67 billion	1.01	$3.04 billion	$1.58	13.20

Cenovus Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Permianville Royalty Trust. Permianville Royalty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cenovus Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Cenovus Energy beats Permianville Royalty Trust on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Permianville Royalty Trust

Permianville Royalty Trust operates as a statutory trust. It is involved in the acquisition and holding of net profits interest representing the right to receive 80% of the net profits from the sale of oil and natural gas production from properties located in the states of Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. The company was formerly known as Enduro Royalty Trust and changed its name to Permianville Royalty Trust in September 2018. Permianville Royalty Trust was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, refines, transports, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and refined petroleum products in Canada and internationally. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, Offshore, Canadian Refining, and U.S. Refining segments. The Oil Sands segment develops and produces bitumen and heavy oil in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. This segment assets include Foster Creek, Christina Lake, and Sunrise projects, as well as Lloydminster thermal and conventional heavy oil assets. The Conventional segment holds natural gas liquids and natural gas assets primarily located in Elmworth-Wapiti, Kaybob-Edson, Clearwater, and Rainbow Lake operating in Alberta and British Columbia, as well as interests in various natural gas processing facilities. The offshore segment engages in offshore operation, exploration, and development activities in China and the East Coast of Canada. The Canadian Refining segment owns and operates Lloydminster upgrading and asphalt refining complex, which converts heavy oil and bitumen into synthetic crude oil, diesel, asphalt, and other ancillary products, as well as Bruderheim crude-by-rail terminal and ethanol plants. The U.S. Refining segment refines crude oil to produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt, and other products. Cenovus Energy Inc. is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.