IMO vs. CNQ, SU, CVE, ARX, OVV, HSE, VRN, SSL, POU, and COP
Should you be buying Imperial Oil stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Imperial Oil include Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), Suncor Energy (SU), Cenovus Energy (CVE), ARC Resources (ARX), Ovintiv (OVV), Husky Energy Inc. (HSE.TO) (HSE), Veren (VRN), Sandstorm Gold (SSL), Paramount Resources (POU), and Coro Mining (COP). These companies are all part of the "petroleum and natural gas" industry.
Imperial Oil vs. Its Competitors
Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) and Canadian Natural Resources (TSE:CNQ) are both large-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.
Imperial Oil pays an annual dividend of C$2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Canadian Natural Resources pays an annual dividend of C$2.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Imperial Oil pays out 25.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Canadian Natural Resources pays out 59.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.
Canadian Natural Resources has a net margin of 21.25% compared to Imperial Oil's net margin of 10.00%. Imperial Oil's return on equity of 21.23% beat Canadian Natural Resources' return on equity.
Canadian Natural Resources has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Imperial Oil. Canadian Natural Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Imperial Oil, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Imperial Oil has a beta of 1.78, meaning that its share price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canadian Natural Resources has a beta of 1.89, meaning that its share price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Imperial Oil currently has a consensus target price of C$106.00, indicating a potential downside of 14.75%. Canadian Natural Resources has a consensus target price of C$54.75, indicating a potential upside of 26.36%. Given Canadian Natural Resources' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Canadian Natural Resources is more favorable than Imperial Oil.
24.9% of Imperial Oil shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.8% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 71.3% of Imperial Oil shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Canadian Natural Resources shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Canadian Natural Resources had 5 more articles in the media than Imperial Oil. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Canadian Natural Resources and 1 mentions for Imperial Oil. Canadian Natural Resources' average media sentiment score of 1.01 beat Imperial Oil's score of 0.00 indicating that Canadian Natural Resources is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Summary
Canadian Natural Resources beats Imperial Oil on 12 of the 19 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 IMO 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 TSE 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.
Imperial Oil Competitors List
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This page (TSE:IMO) was last updated on 8/28/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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