WES vs. VST, AEP, TRP, EXC, XEL, VG, CQP, FTS, EBR, and LNT
Should you be buying Western Midstream Partners stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Western Midstream Partners include Vistra (VST), American Electric Power (AEP), TC Energy (TRP), Exelon (EXC), Xcel Energy (XEL), Venture Global (VG), Cheniere Energy Partners (CQP), Fortis (FTS), Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobrás (EBR), and Alliant Energy (LNT). These companies are all part of the "utilities" industry.
Western Midstream Partners vs.
Vistra (NYSE:VST) and Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, community ranking, valuation, profitability, dividends, risk, media sentiment and institutional ownership.
In the previous week, Vistra had 17 more articles in the media than Western Midstream Partners. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Vistra and 3 mentions for Western Midstream Partners. Vistra's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Western Midstream Partners' score of 1.04 indicating that Vistra is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Western Midstream Partners has a net margin of 42.99% compared to Vistra's net margin of 12.51%. Vistra's return on equity of 57.63% beat Western Midstream Partners' return on equity.
Vistra has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Midstream Partners has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Vistra currently has a consensus price target of $169.08, indicating a potential upside of 2.66%. Western Midstream Partners has a consensus price target of $39.83, indicating a potential upside of 4.90%. Given Western Midstream Partners' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Western Midstream Partners is more favorable than Vistra.
Western Midstream Partners received 285 more outperform votes than Vistra when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.58% of users gave Western Midstream Partners an outperform vote while only 67.17% of users gave Vistra an outperform vote.
90.9% of Vistra shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Western Midstream Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Vistra shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Western Midstream Partners shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Vistra has higher revenue and earnings than Western Midstream Partners. Western Midstream Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vistra, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Vistra pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Western Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $3.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.6%. Vistra pays out 14.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Western Midstream Partners pays out 108.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Vistra has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Western Midstream Partners has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years.
Summary
Vistra beats Western Midstream Partners on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NYSE:WES) was last updated on 6/10/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
