YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF – Get Free Report) and W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI – Get Free Report) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and dividends.
Profitability
This table compares YPF Sociedad Anónima and W&T Offshore’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| YPF Sociedad Anónima | 3.60% | 10.86% | 4.20% |
| W&T Offshore | -19.32% | N/A | -2.59% |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares YPF Sociedad Anónima and W&T Offshore”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| YPF Sociedad Anónima | $18.45 billion | 1.12 | -$826.00 million | $1.90 | 27.70 |
| W&T Offshore | $501.46 million | 1.15 | -$150.06 million | ($0.73) | -5.23 |
W&T Offshore has lower revenue, but higher earnings than YPF Sociedad Anónima. W&T Offshore 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.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
10.1% of YPF Sociedad Anónima shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.9% of W&T Offshore shares are held by institutional investors. 35.9% of W&T Offshore shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for YPF Sociedad Anónima and W&T Offshore, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| YPF Sociedad Anónima | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2.50 |
| W&T Offshore | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
YPF Sociedad Anónima presently has a consensus target price of $60.33, suggesting a potential upside of 14.64%. W&T Offshore has a consensus target price of $4.25, suggesting a potential upside of 11.26%. Given YPF Sociedad Anónima’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe YPF Sociedad Anónima is more favorable than W&T Offshore.
Volatility & Risk
YPF Sociedad Anónima has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W&T Offshore has a beta of 0.28, suggesting that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
YPF Sociedad Anónima beats W&T Offshore on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
About W&T Offshore
W&T Offshore, Inc. engages in the production, exploration, development, and acquisition of oil and natural gas properties. It focuses its operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The company was founded by Tracy W. Krohn in 1983 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.
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