China Natural Gas (OTCMKTS:CHNGQ) vs. NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT) Financial Contrast

NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT) and China Natural Gas (OTCMKTS:CHNGQ) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares NextDecade and China Natural Gas’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NextDecade	N/A	-22.67%	-5.47%
China Natural Gas	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for NextDecade and China Natural Gas, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NextDecade	0	0	1	0	3.00
China Natural Gas	0	0	0	0	0.00

NextDecade currently has a consensus target price of $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.32%. Given NextDecade’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe NextDecade is more favorable than China Natural Gas.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.7% of NextDecade shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of NextDecade shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 20.8% of China Natural Gas shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NextDecade and China Natural Gas”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NextDecade	N/A	N/A	-$162.26 million	($1.12)	-6.68
China Natural Gas	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

NextDecade has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, China Natural Gas has a beta of -9.51, suggesting that its stock price is 1,051% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

NextDecade beats China Natural Gas on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NextDecade

NextDecade Corp. is a development company.

About China Natural Gas

China Natural Gas, Inc., an integrated natural gas operator, engages in the sale and distribution of natural gas and gasoline to commercial, industrial, and residential customers in the People's Republic of China. The company is primarily involved in the distribution of compressed natural gas (CNG) through its variable interest entity-owned CNG fueling stations. As of December 31, 2012, it operated 31 CNG fueling stations, including 20 CNG fueling stations in Shaanxi Province, 10 CNG fueling stations in Henan Province, and 1 CNG fueling station in Hubei Province. It also installs natural gas pipelines, as well as distributes and sells piped natural gas to residential and commercial customers through a high pressure pipeline network of approximately 120 kilometers in the city of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, including Lantian County; the districts of Lintong and Baqiao in Shaanxi Province; and the city of Lingbao in Henan Province. As of the above date, the company had approximately 122,020 residential and commercial customers for its pipeline network, as well as operated 4 automobile conversion sites for converting gasoline-fueled vehicles to hybrid (natural gas/gasoline) powered vehicles. The company is based in Xi'an, the People's Republic of China. On July 2, 2014, the involuntary petition of China Natural Gas, Inc. for reorganization under Chapter 11 was converted to Chapter 7. The involuntary petition was filed under Chapter 11 on February 8, 2013.