YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) versus Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Head-To-Head Review

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) and YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) are both large-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Enterprise Products Partners and YPF Sociedad Anónima’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Enterprise Products Partners	10.79%	20.67%	7.93%
YPF Sociedad Anónima	3.60%	10.86%	4.20%

Dividends

Enterprise Products Partners pays an annual dividend of $2.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. YPF Sociedad Anónima pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Enterprise Products Partners pays out 77.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. YPF Sociedad Anónima pays out 7.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Enterprise Products Partners has raised its dividend for 28 consecutive years. Enterprise Products Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Enterprise Products Partners and YPF Sociedad Anónima, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Enterprise Products Partners	1	7	7	1	2.50
YPF Sociedad Anónima	0	3	3	0	2.50

Enterprise Products Partners currently has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.64%. YPF Sociedad Anónima has a consensus target price of $60.33, indicating a potential upside of 14.64%. Given YPF Sociedad Anónima’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe YPF Sociedad Anónima is more favorable than Enterprise Products Partners.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

26.1% of Enterprise Products Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.1% of YPF Sociedad Anónima shares are held by institutional investors. 32.6% of Enterprise Products Partners shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Enterprise Products Partners and YPF Sociedad Anónima”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Enterprise Products Partners	$52.60 billion	1.60	$5.81 billion	$2.88	13.53
YPF Sociedad Anónima	$20.59 billion	1.01	-$826.00 million	$1.90	27.70

Enterprise Products Partners has higher revenue and earnings than YPF Sociedad Anónima. Enterprise Products Partners 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.

Risk and Volatility

Enterprise Products Partners has a beta of 0.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, YPF Sociedad Anónima has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Enterprise Products Partners beats YPF Sociedad Anónima on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Enterprise Products Partners

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, petrochemicals, and refined products. It operates in four segments: NGL Pipelines & Services, Crude Oil Pipelines & Services, Natural Gas Pipelines & Services, and Petrochemical & Refined Products Services. The NGL Pipelines & Services segment offers natural gas processing and related NGL marketing services. It operates natural gas processing facilities located in Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming; NGL pipelines; NGL fractionation facilities; NGL and related product storage facilities; and NGL marine terminals. The Crude Oil Pipelines & Services segment operates crude oil pipelines; and crude oil storage and marine terminals, which include a fleet of approximately 250 tractor-trailer tank trucks that are used to transport crude oil. It also engages in crude oil marketing activities. The Natural Gas Pipelines & Services segment operates natural gas pipeline systems to gather, treat, and transport natural gas. It leases underground salt dome natural gas storage facilities in Napoleonville, Louisiana; owns an underground salt dome storage cavern in Wharton County, Texas; and markets natural gas. The Petrochemical & Refined Products Services segment operates propylene fractionation facilities, including propylene fractionation units and propane dehydrogenation facilities, and related marketing activities; butane isomerization complex and related deisobutanizer operations; and octane enhancement, isobutane dehydrogenation, and high purity isobutylene production facilities. It also operates refined products pipelines and terminals; and ethylene export terminals; and provides refined products marketing and marine transportation services. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

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.