Cheniere Energy (LNG) Competitors

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) and Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) are both large-cap energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, risk, community ranking, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in LNG or WMB?

87.3% of Cheniere Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of Williams Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Cheniere Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Williams Companies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer LNG or WMB?

Cheniere Energy presently has a consensus target price of $252.23, suggesting a potential upside of 7.29%. Williams Companies has a consensus target price of $61.25, suggesting a potential upside of 3.65%. Given Cheniere Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Cheniere Energy is more favorable than Williams Companies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cheniere Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Williams Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is LNG or WMB more profitable?

Williams Companies has a net margin of 21.18% compared to Cheniere Energy's net margin of 18.37%. Cheniere Energy's return on equity of 32.62% beat Williams Companies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cheniere Energy	18.37%	32.62%	7.18%
Williams Companies	21.18%	15.95%	4.37%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LNG or WMB?

Williams Companies received 8 more outperform votes than Cheniere Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 74.30% of users gave Cheniere Energy an outperform vote while only 71.31% of users gave Williams Companies an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cheniere Energy	Outperform Votes 688 74.30%	Underperform Votes 238 25.70%
Williams Companies	Outperform Votes 696 71.31%	Underperform Votes 280 28.69%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, LNG or WMB?

Cheniere Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Williams Companies. Cheniere Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Williams Companies, 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
Cheniere Energy	$15.70B	3.32	$3.25B	$13.67	17.20
Williams Companies	$10.50B	6.86	$2.23B	$1.87	31.60

Is LNG or WMB a better dividend stock?

Cheniere Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Williams Companies pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Cheniere Energy pays out 14.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Williams Companies pays out 107.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Williams Companies has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. Williams Companies is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media prefer LNG or WMB?

In the previous week, Cheniere Energy had 1 more articles in the media than Williams Companies. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for Cheniere Energy and 25 mentions for Williams Companies. Cheniere Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat Williams Companies' score of 1.26 indicating that Cheniere Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cheniere Energy	21 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Williams Companies	19 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, LNG or WMB?

Cheniere Energy has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Williams Companies has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cheniere Energy beats Williams Companies on 14 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.