Atmos Energy (ATO) Competitors

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) and ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Is ATO or OKE a better dividend stock?

Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. ONEOK pays an annual dividend of $4.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Atmos Energy pays out 48.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ONEOK pays out 80.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Atmos Energy has increased its dividend for 41 consecutive years and ONEOK has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, ATO or OKE?

ONEOK has higher revenue and earnings than Atmos Energy. ONEOK is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmos 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
Atmos Energy	$4.49B	5.52	$1.04B	$7.20	21.64
ONEOK	$24.96B	2.04	$2.66B	$5.12	15.93

Does the media prefer ATO or OKE?

In the previous week, ONEOK had 8 more articles in the media than Atmos Energy. MarketBeat recorded 29 mentions for ONEOK and 21 mentions for Atmos Energy. Atmos Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat ONEOK's score of 1.44 indicating that Atmos Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Atmos Energy	17 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ONEOK	22 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ATO or OKE?

ONEOK received 63 more outperform votes than Atmos Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.71% of users gave Atmos Energy an outperform vote while only 57.46% of users gave ONEOK an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Atmos Energy	Outperform Votes 488 63.71%	Underperform Votes 278 36.29%
ONEOK	Outperform Votes 551 57.46%	Underperform Votes 408 42.54%

Is ATO or OKE more profitable?

Atmos Energy has a net margin of 25.90% compared to ONEOK's net margin of 14.05%. ONEOK's return on equity of 16.84% beat Atmos Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atmos Energy	25.90%	8.89%	4.31%
ONEOK	14.05%	16.84%	6.08%

Which has more volatility and risk, ATO or OKE?

Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ONEOK has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer ATO or OKE?

Atmos Energy presently has a consensus target price of $156.35, indicating a potential upside of 0.37%. ONEOK has a consensus target price of $104.69, indicating a potential upside of 28.37%. Given ONEOK's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe ONEOK is more favorable than Atmos Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atmos Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.64
ONEOK	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Do institutionals & insiders believe in ATO or OKE?

90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.1% of ONEOK shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of ONEOK shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

ONEOK beats Atmos Energy on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.