Murphy USA (MUSA) Competitors

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) and Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) are related mid-cap companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, profitability and risk.

Is AROC or MUSA a better dividend stock?

Archrock pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Murphy USA pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Archrock pays out 64.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Murphy USA pays out 8.4% 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. Archrock has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Murphy USA has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in AROC or MUSA?

95.5% of Archrock shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.8% of Murphy USA shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Archrock shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.1% of Murphy USA shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer AROC or MUSA?

Archrock presently has a consensus target price of $26.67, indicating a potential upside of 13.94%. Murphy USA has a consensus target price of $526.29, indicating a potential upside of 23.36%. Given Murphy USA's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Murphy USA is more favorable than Archrock.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Archrock	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
Murphy USA	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63

Which has more risk and volatility, AROC or MUSA?

Archrock has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Murphy USA has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AROC or MUSA more profitable?

Archrock has a net margin of 16.38% compared to Murphy USA's net margin of 2.46%. Murphy USA's return on equity of 61.19% beat Archrock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Archrock	16.38%	18.31%	6.21%
Murphy USA	2.46%	61.19%	10.96%

Which has higher valuation & earnings, AROC or MUSA?

Murphy USA has higher revenue and earnings than Archrock. Murphy USA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Archrock, 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
Archrock	$1.16B	3.57	$172.23M	$1.18	19.83
Murphy USA	$20.24B	0.42	$502.50M	$23.71	17.99

Does the media favor AROC or MUSA?

In the previous week, Murphy USA had 6 more articles in the media than Archrock. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Murphy USA and 3 mentions for Archrock. Murphy USA's average media sentiment score of 1.57 beat Archrock's score of 1.17 indicating that Murphy USA is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Archrock	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Murphy USA	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Murphy USA beats Archrock on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.