Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) Competitors

Natural Resource Partners (NYSE:NRP) and Suburban Propane Partners (NYSE:SPH) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, community ranking, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Do analysts prefer NRP or SPH?

Suburban Propane Partners has a consensus target price of $17.00, suggesting a potential downside of 14.34%. Given Natural Resource Partners' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Suburban Propane Partners is more favorable than Natural Resource Partners.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Natural Resource Partners	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A
Suburban Propane Partners	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.00

Which has more risk & volatility, NRP or SPH?

Natural Resource Partners has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Suburban Propane Partners has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is NRP or SPH a better dividend stock?

Natural Resource Partners pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Suburban Propane Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%. Natural Resource Partners pays out 22.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Suburban Propane Partners pays out 81.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Natural Resource Partners has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Does the media prefer NRP or SPH?

In the previous week, Suburban Propane Partners had 3 more articles in the media than Natural Resource Partners. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Suburban Propane Partners and 2 mentions for Natural Resource Partners. Natural Resource Partners' average media sentiment score of 0.79 beat Suburban Propane Partners' score of 0.38 indicating that Suburban Propane Partners is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Natural Resource Partners	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Suburban Propane Partners	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NRP or SPH?

Natural Resource Partners received 70 more outperform votes than Suburban Propane Partners when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.90% of users gave Natural Resource Partners an outperform vote while only 57.28% of users gave Suburban Propane Partners an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Natural Resource Partners	Outperform Votes 373 62.90%	Underperform Votes 220 37.10%
Suburban Propane Partners	Outperform Votes 303 57.28%	Underperform Votes 226 42.72%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in NRP or SPH?

31.8% of Natural Resource Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.9% of Suburban Propane Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 35.3% of Natural Resource Partners shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Suburban Propane Partners shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better earnings & valuation, NRP or SPH?

Natural Resource Partners has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Suburban Propane Partners. Natural Resource Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Suburban Propane Partners, 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
Natural Resource Partners	$370.01M	3.13	$278.43M	$13.15	6.80
Suburban Propane Partners	$1.43B	0.89	$123.75M	$1.59	12.48

Is NRP or SPH more profitable?

Natural Resource Partners has a net margin of 59.68% compared to Natural Resource Partners' net margin of 7.36%. Suburban Propane Partners' return on equity of 44.05% beat Natural Resource Partners' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Natural Resource Partners	59.68%	44.05%	27.02%
Suburban Propane Partners	7.36%	17.97%	4.46%

Summary

Natural Resource Partners beats Suburban Propane Partners on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.