Analyzing Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) & YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF)

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) and YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Peabody Energy and YPF Sociedad Anónima, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peabody Energy	1	3	2	0	2.17
YPF Sociedad Anónima	0	3	3	0	2.50

Peabody Energy presently has a consensus price target of $33.88, suggesting a potential upside of 42.06%. YPF Sociedad Anónima has a consensus price target of $60.33, suggesting a potential upside of 15.94%. Given Peabody Energy’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Peabody Energy is more favorable than YPF Sociedad Anónima.

Profitability

This table compares Peabody Energy and YPF Sociedad Anónima’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peabody Energy	-4.56%	-5.22%	-3.22%
YPF Sociedad Anónima	3.60%	10.86%	4.20%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Peabody Energy and YPF Sociedad Anónima”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peabody Energy	$4.01 billion	0.72	-$52.90 million	($1.50)	-15.90
YPF Sociedad Anónima	$18.45 billion	1.11	-$826.00 million	$1.90	27.39

Peabody Energy has higher earnings, but lower revenue than YPF Sociedad Anónima. Peabody Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than YPF Sociedad Anónima, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Peabody Energy has a beta of 0.33, meaning that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, YPF Sociedad Anónima has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.4% of Peabody Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.1% of YPF Sociedad Anónima shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Peabody Energy shares are owned 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.

Summary

YPF Sociedad Anónima beats Peabody Energy on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peabody Energy

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in coal mining business in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, India, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, France, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Germany, and internationally. The company operates through Seaborne Thermal, Seaborne Metallurgical, Powder River Basin, Other U.S. Thermal, and Corporate and Other segments. It is involved in the mining, preparation, and sale of thermal coal primarily to electric utilities; mining bituminous and sub-bituminous coal deposits; low sulfur and high British thermal unit thermal coal; and mining metallurgical coal, such as hard coking coal, semi-hard coking coal, semi-soft coking coal, and pulverized coal injection coal. The company supplies coal primarily to electricity generators, industrial facilities, and steel manufacturers. It also engages in marketing and brokering of coal from other coal producers; trading of coal and freight-related contracts, as well as provides transportation-related services. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

About YPF Sociedad Anónima

YPF Sociedad Anónima, an energy company, engages in the oil and gas upstream and downstream activities in Argentina. Its upstream operations include the exploration, exploitation, and production of crude oil, and natural gas. The company’s downstream operations include petrochemical production and crude oil refining; transportation and distribution refined and petrochemical products; commercialization of crude oil, petrochemical products, and specialties. Its gas and power operations include transportation, commercialization, and distribution of natural gas; operation of regasification terminals; conditioning, processing, and separation of natural gas; and power generation. The company had interests in oil and gas fields. It also had a retail distribution network and retail service stations. In addition, the company owns and operates refineries, as well as maintains terminal facilities Argentine ports. Further, it participates in power generation plants; offers diesel, fertilizers, lubricants, phytosanitary products, and ensiling bags; and supplies diesel, gasoline, fuel oil, coal, asphalts, paraffin, and sulfur, CO2, decanted oil, and aromatic extract. The company was incorporated in 1977 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.