Sasol (SSL) Competitors

Sasol (NYSE:SSL) and Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, profitability and risk.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in SSL or MRO?

1.2% of Sasol shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of Marathon Oil shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Sasol shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Marathon Oil shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SSL or MRO a better dividend stock?

Sasol pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Marathon Oil pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Marathon Oil pays out 18.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SSL or MRO?

Marathon Oil received 668 more outperform votes than Sasol when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.85% of users gave Marathon Oil an outperform vote while only 54.99% of users gave Sasol an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Sasol	Outperform Votes 358 54.99%	Underperform Votes 293 45.01%
Marathon Oil	Outperform Votes 1026 65.85%	Underperform Votes 532 34.15%

Which has more risk and volatility, SSL or MRO?

Sasol has a beta of 2.35, meaning that its share price is 135% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marathon Oil has a beta of 2.18, meaning that its share price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SSL or MRO more profitable?

Marathon Oil has a net margin of 21.83% compared to Sasol's net margin of 0.00%. Marathon Oil's return on equity of 13.24% beat Sasol's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sasol	N/A	N/A	N/A
Marathon Oil	21.83%	13.24%	7.51%

Does the media prefer SSL or MRO?

In the previous week, Marathon Oil had 15 more articles in the media than Sasol. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Marathon Oil and 1 mentions for Sasol. Marathon Oil's average media sentiment score of 0.66 beat Sasol's score of 0.61 indicating that Marathon Oil is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sasol	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Marathon Oil	6 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, SSL or MRO?

Marathon Oil has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sasol.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sasol	$16.30B	0.25	$496.26M	N/A	N/A
Marathon Oil	$6.70B	2.39	$1.55B	$2.42	11.74

Do analysts rate SSL or MRO?

Marathon Oil has a consensus price target of $32.86, suggesting a potential upside of 16.36%. Given Marathon Oil's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Marathon Oil is more favorable than Sasol.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sasol	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Marathon Oil	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71

Summary

Marathon Oil beats Sasol on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.