Reviewing BP (BP) & Its Rivals

BP (NYSE:BP) is one of 1,050 public companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare BP to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

11.0% of BP shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.7% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of BP shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.3% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are held by company 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 BP and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BP	2.49%	16.63%	4.39%
BP Competitors	-472.95%	19.42%	6.31%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares BP and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
BP	$217.16 billion	$55.00 million	24.64
BP Competitors	$11.31 billion	$5.51 billion	0.87

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

Risk & Volatility

BP has a beta of 0.2, meaning that its share price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BP’s peers have a beta of -4.03, meaning that their average share price is 503% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

BP pays an annual dividend of $2.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. BP pays out 100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.4% and pay out -120.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. BP lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for BP and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BP	2	8	15	1	2.58
BP Competitors	5959	26924	40744	2399	2.52

BP presently has a consensus target price of $49.44, suggesting a potential downside of 2.14%. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 17.32%. Given BP’s peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BP has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

BP peers beat BP on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

BP Company Profile

BP p.l.c. provides carbon products and services. The company operates through Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Oil Production & Operations, and Customers & Products segments. It engages in the production of natural gas, and integrated gas and power; trading of gas; operation of onshore and offshore wind power, as well as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage facilities; trading and marketing of renewable and non-renewable power; and production of crude oil. In addition, the company involved in convenience and retail fuel, EV charging, Castrol lubricant, aviation, B2B, and midstream businesses; refining and oil trading; and bioenergy business. The company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.