SM Energy (SM) Competitors

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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, 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	3.57	$172.23M	$1.18	19.82
SM Energy	$2.69B	1.10	$770.29M	$7.14	3.63

Which has more volatility & risk, AROC or SM?

Archrock has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SM Energy has a beta of 2.16, indicating that its share price is 116% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AROC or SM a better dividend stock?

Archrock pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. SM Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Archrock pays out 64.4% 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. Archrock has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and SM Energy has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Do analysts prefer AROC or SM?

Archrock presently has a consensus target price of $26.67, indicating a potential upside of 14.01%. SM Energy has a consensus target price of $42.08, indicating a potential upside of 62.55%. Given SM Energy's higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
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 believe in 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, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is AROC or SM more profitable?

SM Energy has a net margin of 27.61% compared to Archrock's net margin of 16.38%. SM Energy's return on equity of 19.90% beat Archrock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Archrock	16.38%	18.31%	6.21%
SM Energy	27.61%	19.90%	10.27%

Does the media favor AROC or SM?

In the previous week, SM Energy had 2 more articles in the media than Archrock. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for SM Energy and 6 mentions for Archrock. Archrock's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat SM Energy's score of 0.90 indicating that Archrock is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Archrock	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
SM Energy	5 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

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