Reviewing Africa Oil (AOIFF) and The Competition

Africa Oil (OTCMKTS:AOIFF) is one of 403 publicly-traded companies in the “Oil & Gas E&P” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Africa Oil to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

19.5% of shares of all “Oil & Gas E&P” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Africa Oil shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.7% of shares of all “Oil & Gas E&P” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Africa Oil and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Africa Oil	N/A	-4.20%	-3.90%
Africa Oil Competitors	-12.04%	7.03%	4.65%

Volatility & Risk

Africa Oil has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Africa Oil’s peers have a beta of 1.30, meaning that their average share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Africa Oil pays an annual dividend of $0.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Africa Oil pays out 35.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Oil & Gas E&P” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.8% and pay out 68.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Africa Oil and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Africa Oil	0	0	0	0	N/A
Africa Oil Competitors	706	4737	8788	362	2.60

As a group, “Oil & Gas E&P” companies have a potential upside of 70.86%. Given Africa Oil’s peers higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Africa Oil has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Africa Oil and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Africa Oil	N/A	$87.10 million	9.79
Africa Oil Competitors	$716.37 million	$111.02 million	7.32

Africa Oil’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Africa Oil. Africa Oil is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Africa Oil peers beat Africa Oil on 9 of the 12 factors compared.

About Africa Oil

Africa Oil Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The company holds interests in producing and development assets in deep-water Nigeria, and development assets in Kenya. It also has a portfolio of exploration and appraisal assets in Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya, as well as Guyana and Senegal Guinea Bissau Joint Development Zone. The company was formerly known as Canmex Minerals Corporation and changed its name to Africa Oil Corp. in August 2007. Africa Oil Corp. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.