Critical Contrast: Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) vs. Dynagas LNG Partners (NYSE:DLNG)

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) and Dynagas LNG Partners (NYSE:DLNG) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Peabody Energy and Dynagas LNG Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peabody Energy	2	2	2	0	2.00
Dynagas LNG Partners	0	1	0	0	2.00

Peabody Energy presently has a consensus price target of $33.88, indicating a potential upside of 24.81%. Given Peabody Energy’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Peabody Energy is more favorable than Dynagas LNG Partners.

Dividends

Peabody Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Dynagas LNG Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Peabody Energy pays out -20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dynagas LNG Partners pays out 11.9% 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. Peabody Energy has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.4% of Peabody Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Peabody Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Peabody Energy and Dynagas LNG Partners”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peabody Energy	$4.01 billion	0.82	-$52.90 million	($1.50)	-18.09
Dynagas LNG Partners	$156.62 million	0.88	$61.60 million	$1.68	2.26

Dynagas LNG Partners has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Peabody Energy. Peabody Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dynagas LNG Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Peabody Energy has a beta of 0.34, meaning that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dynagas LNG Partners has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Peabody Energy and Dynagas LNG Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peabody Energy	-4.56%	-5.22%	-3.22%
Dynagas LNG Partners	42.33%	13.05%	6.74%

Summary

Dynagas LNG Partners beats Peabody Energy on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peabody Energy

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in coal mining business in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, India, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, France, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Germany, and internationally. The company operates through Seaborne Thermal, Seaborne Metallurgical, Powder River Basin, Other U.S. Thermal, and Corporate and Other segments. It is involved in the mining, preparation, and sale of thermal coal primarily to electric utilities; mining bituminous and sub-bituminous coal deposits; low sulfur and high British thermal unit thermal coal; and mining metallurgical coal, such as hard coking coal, semi-hard coking coal, semi-soft coking coal, and pulverized coal injection coal. The company supplies coal primarily to electricity generators, industrial facilities, and steel manufacturers. It also engages in marketing and brokering of coal from other coal producers; trading of coal and freight-related contracts, as well as provides transportation-related services. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

About Dynagas LNG Partners

Dynagas LNG Partners LP, through its subsidiaries, operates in the seaborne transportation industry in Greece and internationally. The company owns and operates liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. Its fleet consists of six LNG carriers with an aggregate carrying capacity of approximately 914,000 cubic meters. Dynagas GP LLC serves as the general partner of Dynagas LNG Partners LP. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Athens, Greece.