Noble (NE) Competitors

Noble (NYSE:NE) and Valaris (NYSE:VAL) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, community ranking, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, risk and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of NE or VAL?

68.1% of Noble shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.7% of Valaris shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Noble shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Valaris shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate NE or VAL?

Noble presently has a consensus price target of $36.57, suggesting a potential upside of 51.97%. Valaris has a consensus price target of $49.17, suggesting a potential upside of 28.50%. Given Noble's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Noble is more favorable than Valaris.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Noble	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
Valaris	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.86

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NE or VAL?

Noble received 5 more outperform votes than Valaris when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 38.98% of users gave Noble an outperform vote while only 31.03% of users gave Valaris an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Noble	Outperform Votes 23 38.98%	Underperform Votes 36 61.02%
Valaris	Outperform Votes 18 31.03%	Underperform Votes 40 68.97%

Is NE or VAL a better dividend stock?

Noble pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.3%. Valaris pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Noble pays out 66.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Valaris pays out 34.7% 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.

Which has better earnings & valuation, NE or VAL?

Valaris has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Noble. Noble is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Valaris, 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
Noble	$3.06B	1.25	$481.90M	$2.99	8.05
Valaris	$2.46B	1.11	$865.40M	$4.26	8.98

Does the media refer more to NE or VAL?

In the previous week, Valaris had 7 more articles in the media than Noble. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Valaris and 0 mentions for Noble. Valaris' average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Noble's score of 0.00 indicating that Valaris is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Noble	Neutral
Valaris	Positive

Is NE or VAL more profitable?

Valaris has a net margin of 15.81% compared to Noble's net margin of 14.66%. Valaris' return on equity of 17.40% beat Noble's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Noble	14.66%	8.15%	5.20%
Valaris	15.81%	17.40%	8.52%

Which has more volatility and risk, NE or VAL?

Noble has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valaris has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Noble and Valaris tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.