Comparing PrimeEnergy (NASDAQ:PNRG) & YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF)

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) and PrimeEnergy (NASDAQ:PNRG) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for YPF Sociedad Anónima and PrimeEnergy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
YPF Sociedad Anónima	0	3	3	0	2.50
PrimeEnergy	0	2	0	0	2.00

YPF Sociedad Anónima currently has a consensus price target of $60.33, suggesting a potential upside of 19.05%. Given YPF Sociedad Anónima’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe YPF Sociedad Anónima is more favorable than PrimeEnergy.

Profitability

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anónima and PrimeEnergy’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%
PrimeEnergy	13.87%	11.47%	7.67%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

10.1% of YPF Sociedad Anónima shares are held by institutional investors. 65.3% of PrimeEnergy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

YPF Sociedad Anónima has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PrimeEnergy has a beta of -0.18, suggesting that its stock price is 118% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anónima and PrimeEnergy”s gross 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	1.08	-$826.00 million	$1.90	26.67
PrimeEnergy	$189.05 million	1.74	$26.31 million	$10.38	20.08

PrimeEnergy has lower revenue, but higher earnings than YPF Sociedad Anónima. PrimeEnergy 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.

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 PrimeEnergy

PrimeEnergy Resources Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in acquisition, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. The company owns leasehold, mineral, and royalty interests in producing and non-producing oil and gas properties; and operates approximately 534 active wells and owns non-operating interests and royalties in 952 additional wells. It also acquires producing oil and gas properties through joint ventures with industry partners; and provides contract services to third parties, including well-servicing support, site-preparation, and construction services for oil and gas drilling and reworking operations. The company was formerly known as PrimeEnergy Corporation and changed its name to PrimeEnergy Resources Corporation in December 2018. PrimeEnergy Resources Corporation was incorporated in 1973 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.