Southwest Gas (SWX) Competitors

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) and Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) are both mid-cap gas utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and risk.

Do analysts rate NFG or SWX?

National Fuel Gas currently has a consensus target price of $98.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.36%. Southwest Gas has a consensus target price of $82.33, indicating a potential upside of 5.03%. Given National Fuel Gas' higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe National Fuel Gas is more favorable than Southwest Gas.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Fuel Gas	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Southwest Gas	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of NFG or SWX?

74.0% of National Fuel Gas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.8% of Southwest Gas shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of National Fuel Gas shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Southwest Gas shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, NFG or SWX?

Southwest Gas has higher revenue and earnings than National Fuel Gas. Southwest Gas is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Fuel Gas, 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
National Fuel Gas	$1.94B	3.98	$77.51M	$2.66	32.22
Southwest Gas	$5.11B	1.10	$198.82M	$2.68	29.25

Is NFG or SWX more profitable?

National Fuel Gas has a net margin of 11.15% compared to Southwest Gas' net margin of 4.06%. National Fuel Gas' return on equity of 20.81% beat Southwest Gas' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Fuel Gas	11.15%	20.81%	7.03%
Southwest Gas	4.06%	6.98%	2.20%

Does the media favor NFG or SWX?

In the previous week, National Fuel Gas had 5 more articles in the media than Southwest Gas. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for National Fuel Gas and 5 mentions for Southwest Gas. National Fuel Gas' average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat Southwest Gas' score of 0.83 indicating that National Fuel Gas is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
National Fuel Gas	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Southwest Gas	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is NFG or SWX a better dividend stock?

National Fuel Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Southwest Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. National Fuel Gas pays out 80.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Southwest Gas pays out 92.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. National Fuel Gas has increased its dividend for 55 consecutive years.

Which has more risk & volatility, NFG or SWX?

National Fuel Gas has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

National Fuel Gas beats Southwest Gas on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.