Contrasting Occidental Petroleum (OXY) & Its Competitors

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) is one of 1,050 publicly-traded companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Occidental Petroleum to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Occidental Petroleum has a beta of 0.16, suggesting that its stock price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Occidental Petroleum’s competitors have a beta of -3.70, suggesting that their average stock price is 470% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.7% of Occidental Petroleum shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.7% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Occidental Petroleum shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 15.5% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Occidental Petroleum and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Occidental Petroleum	28.36%	15.31%	5.69%
Occidental Petroleum Competitors	-470.89%	19.08%	6.33%

Dividends

Occidental Petroleum pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Occidental Petroleum pays out 17.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.7% and pay out -121.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Occidental Petroleum has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Occidental Petroleum lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Occidental Petroleum and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Occidental Petroleum	0	15	12	0	2.44
Occidental Petroleum Competitors	5966	26949	40778	2408	2.52

Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus price target of $67.88, suggesting a potential upside of 12.51%. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 22.26%. Given Occidental Petroleum’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Occidental Petroleum has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Occidental Petroleum and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Occidental Petroleum	$22.07 billion	$2.33 billion	9.34
Occidental Petroleum Competitors	$10.76 billion	$5.51 billion	-0.31

Occidental Petroleum has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Occidental Petroleum is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Occidental Petroleum competitors beat Occidental Petroleum on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The company's Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas. Its Chemical segment manufactures and markets basic chemicals, including chlorine, caustic soda, chlorinated organics, potassium chemicals, ethylene dichloride, chlorinated isocyanurates, sodium silicates, and calcium chloride; and vinyls comprising vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride, and ethylene. The Midstream and Marketing segment gathers, processes, transports, stores, purchases, and markets oil, condensate, NGLs, natural gas, carbon dioxide, and power. This segment also invests in entities. Occidental Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.