Shell (NYSE:SHEL) versus World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) Head-To-Head Contrast

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) and World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Shell and World Kinect, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shell	0	9	7	2	2.61
World Kinect	2	1	0	0	1.33

Shell currently has a consensus target price of $106.63, suggesting a potential downside of 1.42%. World Kinect has a consensus target price of $30.00, suggesting a potential downside of 17.93%. Given Shell’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Shell is more favorable than World Kinect.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Shell and World Kinect”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shell	$273.73 billion	1.13	$17.84 billion	$9.06	11.94
World Kinect	$36.92 billion	0.05	-$614.40 million	($3.21)	-11.39

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

Profitability

This table compares Shell and World Kinect’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shell	8.55%	14.34%	6.74%
World Kinect	-0.43%	11.24%	2.40%

Volatility & Risk

Shell has a beta of 0.1, meaning that its share price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, World Kinect has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Shell pays an annual dividend of $3.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. World Kinect pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Shell pays out 34.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. World Kinect pays out -28.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. World Kinect has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

28.6% of Shell shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.1% of World Kinect shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Shell shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of World Kinect shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Shell beats World Kinect on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shell

Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure to deliver gas to market. The company also markets and trades natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil, electricity, carbon-emission rights; and markets and sells LNG as a fuel for heavy-duty vehicles. In addition, it trades in and refines crude oil and other feed stocks, such as low-carbon fuels, lubricants, bitumen, sulphur, gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, and marine fuel; produces and sells petrochemicals for industrial use; and manages oil sands activities. Further, the company produces base chemicals comprising ethylene, propylene, and aromatics, as well as intermediate chemicals, such as styrene monomer, propylene oxide, solvents, detergent alcohols, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol. Additionally, it generates electricity through wind and solar resources; produces and sells hydrogen; and provides electric vehicle charging services. The company was formerly known as Royal Dutch Shell plc and changed its name to Shell plc in January 2022. Shell plc was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About World Kinect

World Kinect Corporation operates as an energy management company in the United States, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. This segment also offers fuel management, price risk management, ground handling, dispatch services, and trip planning services, such as flight planning and scheduling, weather reports and overflight permits; payment and processing services; and operates a web-based marketplace platform. The Land segment offers fuel, lubricants, heating oil, and related products and services to retail petroleum operators, as well as industrial, commercial, residential and government customers. This segment also provides sustainability solutions, such as renewable fuel products, carbon management, and renewable energy solutions; distributes fuel under long-term contracts to branded and unbranded distributors, convenience stores, and retail fuel outlets operated by third parties; distributes heating oil and unbranded fuel; and transportation logistics. The Marine segment markets fuel, lubricants, and related products and services to international container, dry bulk and tanker fleets, commercial cruise lines, yachts and time charter operators, offshore rig owners and operators, the U.S. and foreign governments, and other fuel suppliers. This segment also offers marine fuel-related services include management services to procurement of fuel, price risk management, cost control, quality control, and claims management services; and engages in the fueling of vessels, and transportation and delivery of fuel and fuel-related products. The company was formerly known as World Fuel Services Corporation and changed its name to World Kinect Corporation in June 2023. World Kinect Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.