Comparing Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE) and MV Oil Trust (NYSE:MVO)

MV Oil Trust (NYSE:MVO) and Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

3.5% of MV Oil Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.9% of Clean Energy Fuels shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Clean Energy Fuels shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

MV Oil Trust has a beta of -0.16, meaning that its stock price is 116% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clean Energy Fuels has a beta of 1.82, meaning that its stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for MV Oil Trust and Clean Energy Fuels, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MV Oil Trust	1	0	0	0	1.00
Clean Energy Fuels	1	2	0	1	2.25

Clean Energy Fuels has a consensus price target of $2.38, indicating a potential upside of 45.33%. Given Clean Energy Fuels’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Clean Energy Fuels is more favorable than MV Oil Trust.

Profitability

This table compares MV Oil Trust and Clean Energy Fuels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MV Oil Trust	91.22%	N/A	385.23%
Clean Energy Fuels	-21.27%	-16.52%	-8.87%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MV Oil Trust and Clean Energy Fuels”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MV Oil Trust	$11.31 million	0.61	$10.41 million	$0.82	0.73
Clean Energy Fuels	$424.83 million	0.85	-$222.02 million	($0.44)	-3.73

MV Oil Trust has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Clean Energy Fuels. Clean Energy Fuels is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MV Oil Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Clean Energy Fuels beats MV Oil Trust on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MV Oil Trust

MV Oil Trust acquires and holds term net profits interests in the oil and natural gas properties of MV Partners, LLC. Its properties wells located in the Mid-Continent region in the states of Kansas and Colorado. MV Oil Trust was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Clean Energy Fuels

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. provides natural gas as alternative fuels for vehicle fleets and related fueling solutions in the United States and Canada. It supplies renewable natural gas (RNG), compressed natural gas (CNG), and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for medium and heavy-duty vehicles; and offers operation and maintenance services for public and private vehicle fleet customer stations. The company also designs, builds, operates, and maintains vehicle fueling stations; and sells and services compressors and other equipment that are used in RNG production and fueling stations. In addition, it transports and sells CNG, RNG, and LNG through virtual natural gas pipelines and interconnects; sells U.S. federal, state, and local government credits, such as RNG as a vehicle fuel, including Renewable Identification Numbers and Low Carbon Fuel Standards credits; and obtains federal, state, and local credits, grants, and incentives. Further, the company focuses on developing, owning, and operating dairy and other livestock waste RNG projects. It serves heavy-duty trucking, airports, refuse, public transit, industrial, and institutional energy users, as well as government fleets. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.