Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) Competitors

APA (NASDAQ:APA) and Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and media sentiment.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in APA or PTEN?

83.0% of APA shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.9% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of APA shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate APA or PTEN?

APA presently has a consensus target price of $23.50, indicating a potential upside of 23.52%. Patterson-UTI Energy has a consensus target price of $8.77, indicating a potential upside of 42.30%. Given Patterson-UTI Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Patterson-UTI Energy is more favorable than APA.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
APA	3 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Patterson-UTI Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.45

Is APA or PTEN a better dividend stock?

APA pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Patterson-UTI Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. APA pays out 36.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Patterson-UTI Energy pays out -12.3% 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.

Is APA or PTEN more profitable?

APA has a net margin of 9.75% compared to Patterson-UTI Energy's net margin of -19.78%. APA's return on equity of 23.22% beat Patterson-UTI Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
APA	9.75%	23.22%	7.63%
Patterson-UTI Energy	-19.78%	-0.70%	-0.43%

Which has more volatility and risk, APA or PTEN?

APA has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Patterson-UTI Energy has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor APA or PTEN?

In the previous week, APA had 11 more articles in the media than Patterson-UTI Energy. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for APA and 7 mentions for Patterson-UTI Energy. Patterson-UTI Energy's average media sentiment score of 0.48 beat APA's score of 0.30 indicating that Patterson-UTI Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
APA	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Patterson-UTI Energy	1 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has better valuation and earnings, APA or PTEN?

APA has higher revenue and earnings than Patterson-UTI Energy. Patterson-UTI Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than APA, 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
APA	$9.74B	0.71	$804M	$2.78	6.84
Patterson-UTI Energy	$5.38B	0.44	-$968.03M	-$2.60	-2.37

Summary

APA beats Patterson-UTI Energy on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.