Contrasting Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) & YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF)

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) and Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Risk and Volatility

YPF Sociedad Anónima has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Magnolia Oil & Gas has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

YPF Sociedad Anónima pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Magnolia Oil & Gas pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. YPF Sociedad Anónima pays out 7.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Magnolia Oil & Gas pays out 31.6% 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. Magnolia Oil & Gas has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Magnolia Oil & Gas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anónima and Magnolia Oil & Gas’ 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%
Magnolia Oil & Gas	28.77%	21.04%	14.46%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anónima and Magnolia Oil & Gas”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
YPF Sociedad Anónima	$20.59 billion	1.06	-$826.00 million	$1.90	29.22
Magnolia Oil & Gas	$1.31 billion	5.01	$325.25 million	$2.28	12.16

Magnolia Oil & Gas has lower revenue, but higher earnings than YPF Sociedad Anónima. Magnolia Oil & Gas 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.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.1% of YPF Sociedad Anónima shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.7% of Magnolia Oil & Gas shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Magnolia Oil & Gas shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for YPF Sociedad Anónima and Magnolia Oil & Gas, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
YPF Sociedad Anónima	0	3	3	0	2.50
Magnolia Oil & Gas	0	7	10	1	2.67

YPF Sociedad Anónima presently has a consensus target price of $60.33, suggesting a potential upside of 8.66%. Magnolia Oil & Gas has a consensus target price of $31.71, suggesting a potential upside of 14.35%. Given Magnolia Oil & Gas’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Magnolia Oil & Gas is more favorable than YPF Sociedad Anónima.

Summary

Magnolia Oil & Gas beats YPF Sociedad Anónima on 14 of the 18 factors compared between 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 Magnolia Oil & Gas

Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp. engages in the acquisition, development, exploration, and production of oil and natural gas properties. It operates assets located in the Eagle Ford Shale and Austin Chalk formations in South Texas. The company was founded on February 14, 2017 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.