SM Energy (SM) Competitors

Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) and SM Energy (NYSE:SM) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings, media sentiment and risk.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of RRC or SM?

98.9% of Range Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.6% of SM Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Range Resources shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of SM Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend RRC or SM?

Range Resources presently has a consensus target price of $41.85, indicating a potential upside of 6.35%. SM Energy has a consensus target price of $42.92, indicating a potential upside of 87.96%. Given SM Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe SM Energy is more favorable than Range Resources.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Range Resources	1 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38
SM Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62

Is RRC or SM a better dividend stock?

Range Resources pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. SM Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Range Resources pays out 32.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SM Energy pays out 11.2% 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. Range Resources has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and SM Energy has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. SM Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is RRC or SM more profitable?

SM Energy has a net margin of 28.63% compared to Range Resources' net margin of 17.63%. SM Energy's return on equity of 19.82% beat Range Resources' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Range Resources	17.63%	13.69%	7.21%
SM Energy	28.63%	19.82%	10.59%

Which has more volatility and risk, RRC or SM?

Range Resources has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SM Energy has a beta of 2.17, suggesting that its share price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor RRC or SM?

In the previous week, Range Resources had 4 more articles in the media than SM Energy. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Range Resources and 11 mentions for SM Energy. SM Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat Range Resources' score of 0.71 indicating that SM Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Range Resources	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
SM Energy	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, RRC or SM?

Range Resources has higher earnings, but lower revenue than SM Energy. SM Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Range Resources, 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
Range Resources	$2.60B	3.62	$871.14M	$1.12	35.13
SM Energy	$2.95B	0.89	$817.88M	$7.14	3.20

Does the MarketBeat Community favor RRC or SM?

Range Resources received 206 more outperform votes than SM Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.92% of users gave SM Energy an outperform vote while only 58.36% of users gave Range Resources an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Range Resources	Outperform Votes 1037 58.36%	Underperform Votes 740 41.64%
SM Energy	Outperform Votes 831 64.92%	Underperform Votes 449 35.08%

Summary

SM Energy beats Range Resources on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.