Ecopetrol (EC) Competitors

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) are both large-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, community ranking, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Which has more volatility and risk, EQNR or EC?

Equinor ASA has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ecopetrol has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, EQNR or EC?

Ecopetrol has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Equinor ASA. Ecopetrol is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equinor ASA, 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
Equinor ASA	$107.17B	0.64	$11.89B	$3.26	7.53
Ecopetrol	$33.22B	0.50	$25.27B	$2.27	3.56

Is EQNR or EC more profitable?

Ecopetrol has a net margin of 13.92% compared to Equinor ASA's net margin of 8.95%. Equinor ASA's return on equity of 19.97% beat Ecopetrol's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equinor ASA	8.95%	19.97%	6.78%
Ecopetrol	13.92%	9.42%	3.31%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of EQNR or EC?

5.5% of Equinor ASA shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Equinor ASA shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor EQNR or EC?

Ecopetrol received 96 more outperform votes than Equinor ASA when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 55.38% of users gave Equinor ASA an outperform vote while only 53.08% of users gave Ecopetrol an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Equinor ASA	Outperform Votes 206 55.38%	Underperform Votes 166 44.62%
Ecopetrol	Outperform Votes 302 53.08%	Underperform Votes 267 46.92%

Is EQNR or EC a better dividend stock?

Equinor ASA pays an annual dividend of $1.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Ecopetrol pays an annual dividend of $2.67 per share and has a dividend yield of 33.0%. Equinor ASA pays out 35.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ecopetrol pays out 117.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Do analysts prefer EQNR or EC?

Equinor ASA currently has a consensus target price of $26.90, suggesting a potential upside of 9.59%. Ecopetrol has a consensus target price of $8.50, suggesting a potential upside of 5.20%. Given Equinor ASA's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Equinor ASA is more favorable than Ecopetrol.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equinor ASA	2 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Ecopetrol	3 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.25

Does the media prefer EQNR or EC?

In the previous week, Equinor ASA had 12 more articles in the media than Ecopetrol. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Equinor ASA and 9 mentions for Ecopetrol. Equinor ASA's average media sentiment score of 0.69 beat Ecopetrol's score of 0.35 indicating that Equinor ASA is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Equinor ASA	6 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ecopetrol	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Equinor ASA beats Ecopetrol on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.