Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 3 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.

Why Focus on Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks?

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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3 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 3 undervalued stocks in the Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production industry for Monday, March 25, 2024. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production industry median.

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

PermRock Royalty Trust’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

PermRock Royalty Trust (the Trust) is a statutory trust. The Trust owns a perpetual interest in oil and natural gas producing properties. The underlying properties include working interests in oil and natural gas producing properties located in the Permian Basin in Texas. The underlying properties consist of approximately 31,783 gross acres in the Permian Basin. The Permian Basin extends over 75,000 square miles in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico. The underlying properties consist of four operating areas: Permian Clearfork area, Permian Abo area, Permian Shelf area and Permian Platform area. Permian Clearfork area consists of about 2,434 net acres on the Central Basin Platform of the Permian Basin in Hockley and Terry Counties, Texas. Permian Abo area consists of over 1,667 net acres on the Central Basin Platform of the Permian Basin in Terry and Cochran Counties, Texas. Permian Shelf area consists of over 14,727 net acres. Permian Platform area consists of over 3,903 net acres.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

PermRock Royalty Trust has a Value Score of 79, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at PermRock Royalty Trust’s price-to-sales ratio at 5.60 compared to the industry median at 2.08, this company has a higher price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make PermRock Royalty Trust’s stock less attractive for value investors.

PermRock Royalty Trust’s price-earnings ratio is 6.23 compared to the industry median at 8.48. This means it has a lower share price relative to earnings compared to its peers. This could make PermRock Royalty Trust more attractive for value investors.

Now, let’s assess PermRock Royalty Trust’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 9.7, when compared to the industry median of 4.5, the company may be considered overvalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. PermRock Royalty Trust’s shareholder yield is higher than its industry median ratio of 2.09%. Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. PermRock Royalty Trust’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.38. This could make PermRock Royalty Trust more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

SM Energy Co’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

SM Energy Company s an independent energy company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquid (NGL) in the state of Texas. The Company’s asset portfolio is comprised of assets in the Midland Basin of West Texas and in the Maverick Basin of South Texas. The Company’s Midland Basin assets are located in the Permian Basin in West Texas is comprised of approximately 110,000 net acres and include its RockStar assets in Howard and Martin Counties, Texas, its Sweetie Peck assets in Upton and Midland Counties, and Klondike assets in Dawson and northern Martin counties (Midland Basin). Its South Texas assets are comprised of approximately 155,000 net acres located in Dimmit and Webb Counties, Texas (South Texas). The Company’s operations in South Texas are focused on production from the Eagle Ford shale formation and Austin Chalk formation, and further development of the Austin Chalk formation.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

SM Energy Co has a Value Score of 90, which is considered to be undervalued.

SM Energy Co’s price-earnings ratio is 7.1 compared to the industry median at 8.5. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes SM Energy Co more attractive for value investors.

SM Energy Co’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make SM Energy Co more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.38.

You can read more about SM Energy Co’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Vital Energy Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Vital Energy, Inc. is an independent energy company. The Company is focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin of West Texas. The Company operates through a single segment, exploration and production. It has assembled 265,306 largely contiguous net acres in the Permian Basin, most of which is prospective for multi-zone development in Glasscock, Howard, Midland, Reagan, and Upton counties in the Midland Basin and Pecos, Reeves, and Ward counties in the Delaware Basin. The Company has purchased certain oil and gas properties in the Delaware Basin, including approximately 21,450 net acres located in Reeves County, 15,500 net acres located in Reeves County, and 24,000 net acres in Pecos, Reeves and Ward Counties. It has also purchased certain oil and natural gas properties in the Midland Basin, including approximately 11,200 net acres located in Upton and Reagan Counties.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Vital Energy Inc has a Value Score of 92, which is considered to be undervalued.

Vital Energy Inc’s price-earnings ratio is 1.5 compared to the industry median at 8.5. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Vital Energy Inc more attractive for value investors.

Vital Energy Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Vital Energy Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.38.

You can read more about Vital Energy Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Other Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stock Grades

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 3 Best Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks Is Right for You

Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.

• PermRock Royalty Trust stock has a Value Grade of B.
• SM Energy Co stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Vital Energy Inc stock has a Value Grade of A.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 3 undervalued stocks in the Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.

A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Additional Resources About Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks

Want to learn more about Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.

• 3 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks for Monday, March 25
• 5 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks for Friday, March 22
• 6 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks for Thursday, March 21
• 4 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks for Wednesday, March 20

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.