Shell (SHEL) Competitors

BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:SHEL) are both large-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking and valuation.

Do analysts rate BP or SHEL?

BP currently has a consensus target price of GBX 618, suggesting a potential upside of 62.38%. Shell has a consensus target price of GBX 3,400, suggesting a potential upside of 32.56%. Given BP's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe BP is more favorable than Shell.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BP	2 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29
Shell	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in BP or SHEL?

BP received 1630 more outperform votes than Shell when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.26% of users gave BP an outperform vote while only 31.28% of users gave Shell an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
BP	Outperform Votes 1686 71.26%	Underperform Votes 680 28.74%
Shell	Outperform Votes 56 31.28%	Underperform Votes 123 68.72%

Which has more risk and volatility, BP or SHEL?

BP has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shell has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, BP or SHEL?

Shell has higher revenue and earnings than BP. BP is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Shell, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BP	£199.76B	0.30	£7.37B	£0.33	1,153.33
Shell	£302.03B	0.52	£18.39B	£2.15	1,192.96

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of BP or SHEL?

41.6% of BP shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.3% of Shell shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of BP shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Shell shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor BP or SHEL?

In the previous week, Shell had 6 more articles in the media than BP. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Shell and 4 mentions for BP. BP's average media sentiment score of 0.21 beat Shell's score of -0.24 indicating that BP is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
BP	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Shell	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is BP or SHEL more profitable?

Shell has a net margin of 6.09% compared to BP's net margin of 3.69%. Shell's return on equity of 9.91% beat BP's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BP	3.69%	9.52%	4.07%
Shell	6.09%	9.91%	5.28%

Is BP or SHEL a better dividend stock?

BP pays an annual dividend of GBX 23 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Shell pays an annual dividend of GBX 105 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. BP pays out 6,969.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Shell pays out 4,883.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Shell beats BP on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.