Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) Competitors

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) and Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, community ranking, risk, earnings and media sentiment.

Is PTEN or HP a better dividend stock?

Patterson-UTI Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Helmerich & Payne pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Patterson-UTI Energy pays out -12.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Helmerich & Payne pays out 45.7% 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.

Does the media favor PTEN or HP?

In the previous week, Patterson-UTI Energy had 2 more articles in the media than Helmerich & Payne. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Patterson-UTI Energy and 11 mentions for Helmerich & Payne. Helmerich & Payne's average media sentiment score of 0.55 beat Patterson-UTI Energy's score of 0.42 indicating that Helmerich & Payne is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Patterson-UTI Energy	3 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Helmerich & Payne	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend PTEN or HP?

Patterson-UTI Energy presently has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 49.61%. Helmerich & Payne has a consensus target price of $27.73, suggesting a potential upside of 53.12%. Given Helmerich & Payne's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Helmerich & Payne is more favorable than Patterson-UTI Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Patterson-UTI Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58
Helmerich & Payne	2 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, PTEN or HP?

Helmerich & Payne has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Patterson-UTI Energy. Patterson-UTI Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Helmerich & Payne, 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
Patterson-UTI Energy	$5.15B	0.48	-$968.03M	-$2.60	-2.44
Helmerich & Payne	$3.08B	0.58	$344.17M	$2.19	8.27

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of PTEN or HP?

97.9% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Helmerich & Payne shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Helmerich & Payne shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is PTEN or HP more profitable?

Helmerich & Payne has a net margin of 11.02% compared to Patterson-UTI Energy's net margin of -18.00%. Helmerich & Payne's return on equity of 11.31% beat Patterson-UTI Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Patterson-UTI Energy	-18.00%	0.81%	0.51%
Helmerich & Payne	11.02%	11.31%	6.35%

Which has more volatility & risk, PTEN or HP?

Patterson-UTI Energy has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Helmerich & Payne has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PTEN or HP?

Patterson-UTI Energy received 118 more outperform votes than Helmerich & Payne when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.18% of users gave Patterson-UTI Energy an outperform vote while only 53.77% of users gave Helmerich & Payne an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Patterson-UTI Energy	Outperform Votes 817 62.18%	Underperform Votes 497 37.82%
Helmerich & Payne	Outperform Votes 699 53.77%	Underperform Votes 601 46.23%

Summary

Helmerich & Payne beats Patterson-UTI Energy on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.