Atmos Energy (ATO) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend OKE or ATO?

ONEOK presently has a consensus target price of $105.62, suggesting a potential upside of 28.92%. Atmos Energy has a consensus target price of $154.28, suggesting a potential downside of 3.45%. Given ONEOK's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe ONEOK is more favorable than Atmos Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ONEOK	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Atmos Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in OKE or ATO?

69.1% of ONEOK shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of ONEOK shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, OKE or ATO?

ONEOK has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is OKE or ATO a better dividend stock?

ONEOK pays an annual dividend of $4.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. ONEOK pays out 79.7% 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 pays out 49.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atmos Energy has raised its dividend for 41 consecutive years.

Is OKE or ATO 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
ONEOK	14.05%	16.84%	6.08%
Atmos Energy	25.90%	8.89%	4.31%

Does the media favor OKE or ATO?

In the previous week, ONEOK had 27 more articles in the media than Atmos Energy. MarketBeat recorded 51 mentions for ONEOK and 24 mentions for Atmos Energy. Atmos Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat ONEOK's score of 0.61 indicating that Atmos Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
ONEOK	19 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Atmos Energy	18 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher earnings and valuation, OKE or ATO?

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
ONEOK	$21.70B	2.36	$2.66B	$5.17	15.85
Atmos Energy	$4.18B	6.06	$1.04B	$7.02	22.76

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in OKE or ATO?

ONEOK received 63 more outperform votes than Atmos Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.78% of users gave Atmos Energy an outperform vote while only 57.37% of users gave ONEOK an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
ONEOK	Outperform Votes 549 57.37%	Underperform Votes 408 42.63%
Atmos Energy	Outperform Votes 486 63.78%	Underperform Votes 276 36.22%

Summary

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