Murphy Oil (MUR) Competitors

APA (NASDAQ:APA) and Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability and media sentiment.

Which has better valuation & earnings, APA or MUR?

APA has higher revenue and earnings than Murphy Oil. APA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Murphy Oil, 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	0.77	$804M	$2.99	7.23
Murphy Oil	$3.03B	1.13	$407.17M	$1.93	12.45

Is APA or MUR more profitable?

APA has a net margin of 10.53% compared to Murphy Oil's net margin of 10.20%. APA's return on equity of 20.98% beat Murphy Oil's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
APA	10.53%	20.98%	7.21%
Murphy Oil	10.20%	5.25%	2.88%

Which has more volatility & risk, APA or MUR?

APA has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Murphy Oil has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is APA or MUR a better dividend stock?

APA pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Murphy Oil pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. APA pays out 33.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Murphy Oil pays out 67.4% 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. Murphy Oil has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Murphy Oil is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to APA or MUR?

In the previous week, APA had 25 more articles in the media than Murphy Oil. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for APA and 13 mentions for Murphy Oil. Murphy Oil's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat APA's score of 0.71 indicating that Murphy Oil 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)	7 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Murphy Oil	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer APA or MUR?

APA presently has a consensus price target of $23.94, suggesting a potential upside of 10.78%. Murphy Oil has a consensus price target of $29.69, suggesting a potential upside of 23.59%. Given Murphy Oil's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Murphy Oil 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
Murphy Oil	2 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.93

Do institutionals and insiders believe in APA or MUR?

83.0% of APA shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.3% of Murphy Oil shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of APA shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Murphy Oil shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

APA beats Murphy Oil on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.