Western Gas Equity Partners (WGP) Competitors

Western Gas Equity Partners (NYSE:WGP) and EQT (NYSE:EQT) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, risk and media sentiment.

Is WGP or EQT more profitable?

Western Gas Equity Partners has a net margin of 19.06% compared to EQT's net margin of 6.59%. Western Gas Equity Partners' return on equity of 11.72% beat EQT's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Western Gas Equity Partners	19.06%	11.72%	4.80%
EQT	6.59%	5.52%	3.23%

Does the media prefer WGP or EQT?

In the previous week, EQT had 34 more articles in the media than Western Gas Equity Partners. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for EQT and 0 mentions for Western Gas Equity Partners. EQT's average media sentiment score of 0.63 beat Western Gas Equity Partners' score of 0.00 indicating that EQT is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Western Gas Equity Partners	Neutral
EQT	Positive

Do analysts prefer WGP or EQT?

EQT has a consensus target price of $60.63, indicating a potential upside of 2.42%. Given EQT's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe EQT is more favorable than Western Gas Equity Partners.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Western Gas Equity Partners	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
EQT	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.68

Is WGP or EQT a better dividend stock?

Western Gas Equity Partners pays an annual dividend of $2.41 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. EQT pays an annual dividend of $0.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Western Gas Equity Partners pays out 103.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. EQT pays out 110.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. EQT has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Western Gas Equity Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more volatility and risk, WGP or EQT?

Western Gas Equity Partners has a beta of 1.54, indicating that its stock price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, EQT has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, WGP or EQT?

Western Gas Equity Partners has higher earnings, but lower revenue than EQT. Western Gas Equity Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than EQT, 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
Western Gas Equity Partners	$1.99B	4.45	$369.43M	$2.34	17.29
EQT	$5.27B	6.72	$230.58M	$0.57	103.86

Do institutionals and insiders believe in WGP or EQT?

21.6% of Western Gas Equity Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of EQT shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of EQT shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

EQT beats Western Gas Equity Partners on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.