ConocoPhillips (COP) Competitors

APA (NASDAQ:APA) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, media sentiment, valuation and risk.

Do analysts rate APA or COP?

APA currently has a consensus target price of $23.72, suggesting a potential upside of 4.10%. ConocoPhillips has a consensus target price of $120.95, suggesting a potential upside of 23.31%. Given ConocoPhillips' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe ConocoPhillips is more favorable than APA.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
APA	3 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
ConocoPhillips	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Is APA or COP a better dividend stock?

APA pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. ConocoPhillips pays an annual dividend of $3.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. APA pays out 33.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ConocoPhillips pays out 41.9% 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. APA is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of APA or COP?

83.0% of APA shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.4% of ConocoPhillips shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of APA shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of ConocoPhillips shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to APA or COP?

In the previous week, ConocoPhillips had 20 more articles in the media than APA. MarketBeat recorded 56 mentions for ConocoPhillips and 36 mentions for APA. ConocoPhillips' average media sentiment score of 1.25 beat APA's score of 0.89 indicating that ConocoPhillips is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
APA	19 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ConocoPhillips	41 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is APA or COP more profitable?

ConocoPhillips has a net margin of 15.26% compared to APA's net margin of 10.53%. APA's return on equity of 20.98% beat ConocoPhillips' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
APA	10.53%	20.98%	7.21%
ConocoPhillips	15.26%	14.60%	7.68%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, APA or COP?

ConocoPhillips has higher revenue and earnings than APA. APA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ConocoPhillips, 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	$10.06B	0.81	$804M	$2.99	7.62
ConocoPhillips	$56.95B	2.15	$9.25B	$7.45	13.17

Which has more volatility & risk, APA or COP?

APA has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ConocoPhillips has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ConocoPhillips beats APA on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.