Financial Contrast: Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP) vs. Delek US (NYSE:DK)

Delek US (NYSE:DK) and Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.0% of Delek US shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.9% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.6% of Delek US shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Delek US and Martin Midstream Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Delek US	1	7	6	1	2.47
Martin Midstream Partners	1	1	0	0	1.50

Delek US currently has a consensus target price of $53.15, suggesting a potential downside of 20.83%. Martin Midstream Partners has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.95%. Given Martin Midstream Partners’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Martin Midstream Partners is more favorable than Delek US.

Dividends

Delek US pays an annual dividend of $1.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Martin Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Delek US pays out 28.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Martin Midstream Partners pays out -5.3% 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. Delek US has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Delek US is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Delek US and Martin Midstream Partners”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Delek US	$10.72 billion	0.38	-$22.80 million	$3.56	18.86
Martin Midstream Partners	$716.11 million	0.13	-$14.74 million	($0.38)	-6.42

Martin Midstream Partners has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Delek US. Martin Midstream Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Delek US, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Delek US has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Martin Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Delek US and Martin Midstream Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Delek US	1.86%	109.03%	6.44%
Martin Midstream Partners	-2.07%	N/A	-2.91%

Summary

Delek US beats Martin Midstream Partners on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Delek US

Delek US Holdings, Inc. engages in the integrated downstream energy business in the United States. The company operates through Refining, Logistics, and Retail segments. The Refining segment processes crude oil and other feedstock for the manufacture of various grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, asphalt, and other petroleum-based products that are distributed through owned and third-party product terminal. It owns and operates refineries located in Tyler, Texas; El Dorado, Arkansas; Big Spring, Texas; and Krotz Springs, Louisiana, as well as biodiesel facilities in Crossett, Arkansas, Cleburne, Texas, and New Albany, Mississippi. The Logistics segment gathers, transports, and stores crude oil, intermediate, and refined products; and markets, distributes, transports, and stores refined products, as well as disposes and recycles water for third parties. It owns or leases crude oil transportation pipelines, refined product pipelines, crude oil gathering systems, and associated crude oil storage tanks; and owns and operates light product distribution terminals, as well as markets light products using third-party terminals. The Retail segment owns and leases convenience store sites located primarily in West Texas and New Mexico. Its convenience stores offer various grades of gasoline and diesel under the DK or Alon brand; and food products and service, tobacco products, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, and general merchandise, as well as money orders to the public primarily under the 7-Eleven and DK or Alon brand names. It serves oil companies, independent refiners and marketers, jobbers, distributors, utility and transportation companies, government, and independent retail fuel operators. Delek US Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.

About Martin Midstream Partners

Martin Midstream Partners L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides terminalling, processing, storage, and packaging services for petroleum products and by-products primarily in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Terminalling and Storage, Transportation, Sulfur Services, and Specialty Products. The company's Terminalling and Storage segment owns or operates various marine shore-based terminal facilities and specialty terminal facilities that provide storage, refining, blending, packaging, and handling services for producers and suppliers of petroleum products and by-products. This segment also offers land rental services to oil and gas companies, as well as storage and handling services for lubricants and fuels. Its Transportation segment operates various trucks and tank trailers; and inland marine tank barges, inland push boats, and articulated offshore tug and barge unit to transport petroleum products and by-products, petrochemicals, and chemicals. The company's Sulfur Services segment processes molten sulfur into prilled or pelletized sulfur, which is used in the production of fertilizers and industrial chemicals. Its Specialty Products segment stores, distributes, and transports natural gas liquids for wholesale deliveries to refineries, industrial natural gas liquid users, and propane retailers. Martin Midstream GP LLC serves as a general partner of the company. Martin Midstream Partners L.P. was incorporated in 2002 and is based in Kilgore, Texas.