Atmos Energy (ATO) Competitors

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) and ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in ATO or OKE?

90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.1% of ONEOK shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of ONEOK shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ATO or OKE?

ONEOK received 63 more outperform votes than Atmos Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.77% of users gave Atmos Energy an outperform vote while only 57.34% of users gave ONEOK an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Atmos Energy	Outperform Votes 484 63.77%	Underperform Votes 275 36.23%
ONEOK	Outperform Votes 547 57.34%	Underperform Votes 407 42.66%

Is ATO or OKE a better dividend stock?

Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. ONEOK pays an annual dividend of $4.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Atmos Energy pays out 49.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ONEOK pays out 79.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Atmos Energy has raised its dividend for 41 consecutive years.

Which has more volatility & risk, ATO or OKE?

Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ONEOK has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ATO or OKE more profitable?

Atmos Energy has a net margin of 25.90% compared to ONEOK's net margin of 14.05%. ONEOK's return on equity of 16.84% beat Atmos Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atmos Energy	25.90%	8.89%	4.31%
ONEOK	14.05%	16.84%	6.08%

Does the media favor ATO or OKE?

In the previous week, ONEOK had 6 more articles in the media than Atmos Energy. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for ONEOK and 16 mentions for Atmos Energy. Atmos Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.74 beat ONEOK's score of 1.24 indicating that Atmos Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Atmos Energy	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
ONEOK	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate ATO or OKE?

Atmos Energy currently has a consensus price target of $151.94, suggesting a potential downside of 2.88%. ONEOK has a consensus price target of $105.00, suggesting a potential upside of 24.88%. Given ONEOK's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe ONEOK is more favorable than Atmos Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atmos Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
ONEOK	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, ATO or OKE?

ONEOK has higher revenue and earnings than Atmos Energy. ONEOK is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmos Energy, 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
Atmos Energy	$4.18B	5.94	$1.04B	$7.02	22.29
ONEOK	$21.70B	2.42	$2.66B	$5.17	16.26

Summary

Atmos Energy beats ONEOK on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.