HighPeak Energy (HPK) Competitors

HighPeak Energy (NASDAQ:HPK) and Vista Energy (NYSE:VIST) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, community ranking, risk and valuation.

Do analysts recommend HPK or VIST?

HighPeak Energy currently has a consensus price target of $11.50, indicating a potential upside of 1.23%. Vista Energy has a consensus price target of $65.68, indicating a potential upside of 25.65%. Given Vista Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vista Energy is more favorable than HighPeak Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HighPeak Energy	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
Vista Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is HPK or VIST a better dividend stock?

HighPeak Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Vista Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. HighPeak Energy pays out 18.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Vista Energy pays out 4.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. HighPeak Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. HighPeak Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, HPK or VIST?

HighPeak Energy has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vista Energy has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, HPK or VIST?

Vista Energy has higher revenue and earnings than HighPeak Energy. Vista Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HighPeak Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HighPeak Energy	$1.04B	1.38	$215.87M	$0.88	12.91
Vista Energy	$1.77B	2.81	$396.95M	$4.78	10.94

Does the media prefer HPK or VIST?

In the previous week, Vista Energy had 3 more articles in the media than HighPeak Energy. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Vista Energy and 3 mentions for HighPeak Energy. Vista Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat HighPeak Energy's score of 1.27 indicating that Vista Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
HighPeak Energy	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Vista Energy	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HPK or VIST?

Vista Energy received 13 more outperform votes than HighPeak Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 46.00% of users gave Vista Energy an outperform vote while only 38.46% of users gave HighPeak Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
HighPeak Energy	Outperform Votes 10 38.46%	Underperform Votes 16 61.54%
Vista Energy	Outperform Votes 23 46.00%	Underperform Votes 27 54.00%

Is HPK or VIST more profitable?

Vista Energy has a net margin of 34.78% compared to HighPeak Energy's net margin of 15.94%. Vista Energy's return on equity of 30.06% beat HighPeak Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HighPeak Energy	15.94%	14.83%	7.60%
Vista Energy	34.78%	30.06%	13.60%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in HPK or VIST?

24.1% of HighPeak Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.8% of Vista Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 78.9% of HighPeak Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Vista Energy beats HighPeak Energy on 18 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.