Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) & NACCO Industries (NYSE:NC) Head to Head Contrast

NACCO Industries (NYSE:NC) and Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NACCO Industries and Mplx”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NACCO Industries	$277.20 million	0.96	$17.57 million	$2.30	15.36
Mplx	$13.00 billion	4.45	$4.91 billion	$4.65	12.26

Mplx has higher revenue and earnings than NACCO Industries. Mplx is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NACCO Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares NACCO Industries and Mplx’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NACCO Industries	6.21%	4.00%	2.60%
Mplx	35.75%	32.83%	10.98%

Volatility & Risk

NACCO Industries has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mplx has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

NACCO Industries pays an annual dividend of $1.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Mplx pays an annual dividend of $4.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.6%. NACCO Industries pays out 45.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mplx pays out 92.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. NACCO Industries has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Mplx has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. Mplx is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for NACCO Industries and Mplx, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NACCO Industries	1	0	0	0	1.00
Mplx	0	7	6	1	2.57

Mplx has a consensus target price of $63.60, suggesting a potential upside of 11.52%. Given Mplx’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Mplx is more favorable than NACCO Industries.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

49.1% of NACCO Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.2% of Mplx shares are held by institutional investors. 44.8% of NACCO Industries shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Mplx beats NACCO Industries on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NACCO Industries

NACCO Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the natural resources business. The company operates through three segments: Coal Mining, North American Mining, and Minerals Management. The Coal Mining segment operates surface coal mines under long-term contracts with power generation companies. Coal is surface mined in North Dakota and Mississippi. The North American Mining segment provides value-added contract mining and other services for producers of aggregates, activated carbon, lithium, and other industrial minerals; and contract mining services for independently owned mines and quarries in Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Virginia, and Nebraska. This segment also offers mining design and consulting services. The Minerals Management segment is involved in the leasing of its royalty and mineral interests to third-party exploration and production companies, and other mining companies, which grants them the rights to explore, develop, mine, produce, market, and sell gas, oil, and coal. NACCO Industries, Inc. was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

About Mplx

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water. The Natural Gas and NGL Services segment gathers, processes, and transports natural gas, and gathers, transports, fractionates, stores, and markets natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company was founded on March 27, 2012 and is headquartered in Findlay, OH.