Murphy USA (MUSA) Competitors

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

Is AROC or MUSA more profitable?

Archrock has a net margin of 17.17% compared to Murphy USA's net margin of 2.52%. Murphy USA's return on equity of 64.63% beat Archrock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Archrock	17.17%	18.74%	6.28%
Murphy USA	2.52%	64.63%	10.86%

Do insiders and 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, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to AROC or MUSA?

In the previous week, Murphy USA had 12 more articles in the media than Archrock. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Murphy USA and 11 mentions for Archrock. Archrock's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat Murphy USA's score of 0.72 indicating that Archrock is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Archrock	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Murphy USA	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AROC or MUSA a better dividend stock?

Archrock pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Murphy USA pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Archrock pays out 63.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Murphy USA pays out 8.3% 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 increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Murphy USA has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Do analysts prefer AROC or MUSA?

Archrock presently has a consensus price target of $28.40, suggesting a potential upside of 18.22%. Murphy USA has a consensus price target of $476.29, suggesting a potential upside of 27.57%. 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)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83
Murphy USA	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has higher valuation and 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	3.65	$172.23M	$1.32	18.20
Murphy USA	$20.24B	0.36	$502.50M	$24.15	15.46

Which has more risk & volatility, AROC or MUSA?

Archrock has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Murphy USA has a beta of 0.42, meaning that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Murphy USA beats Archrock on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.