SM Energy (SM) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer AROC or SM?

Archrock presently has a consensus target price of $28.40, indicating a potential upside of 24.53%. SM Energy has a consensus target price of $42.50, indicating a potential upside of 62.44%. Given SM Energy's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SM Energy 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
SM Energy	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54

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

95.5% of Archrock shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.6% of SM Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Archrock shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of SM Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor AROC or SM?

In the previous week, SM Energy had 9 more articles in the media than Archrock. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for SM Energy and 17 mentions for Archrock. SM Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat Archrock's score of 0.82 indicating that SM Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Archrock	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
SM Energy	11 Very Positive mention(s)	14 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AROC or SM a better dividend stock?

Archrock pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. SM Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Archrock pays out 63.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SM Energy pays out 11.3% 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 raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and SM Energy has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Is AROC or SM more profitable?

SM Energy has a net margin of 25.94% compared to Archrock's net margin of 17.17%. Archrock's return on equity of 18.74% beat SM Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Archrock	17.17%	18.74%	6.28%
SM Energy	25.94%	18.06%	9.08%

Which has more volatility & risk, AROC or SM?

Archrock has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SM Energy has a beta of 2.29, indicating that its stock price is 129% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, AROC or SM?

SM Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Archrock. SM Energy 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	3.48	$172.23M	$1.32	17.28
SM Energy	$2.69B	1.12	$770.29M	$7.08	3.70

Summary

SM Energy beats Archrock on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.