Hess (HES) Competitors

Hess (NYSE:HES) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) are both large-cap energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, community ranking, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Is HES or OXY more profitable?

Hess has a net margin of 21.27% compared to Occidental Petroleum's net margin of 11.37%. Hess' return on equity of 26.32% beat Occidental Petroleum's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hess	21.27%	26.32%	11.55%
Occidental Petroleum	11.37%	16.33%	5.05%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HES or OXY?

Occidental Petroleum received 72 more outperform votes than Hess when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.10% of users gave Occidental Petroleum an outperform vote while only 59.15% of users gave Hess an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hess	Outperform Votes 782 59.15%	Underperform Votes 540 40.85%
Occidental Petroleum	Outperform Votes 854 60.10%	Underperform Votes 567 39.90%

Which has more volatility and risk, HES or OXY?

Hess has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Occidental Petroleum has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HES or OXY a better dividend stock?

Hess pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Occidental Petroleum pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Hess pays out 22.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Occidental Petroleum pays out 39.3% 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.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in HES or OXY?

88.5% of Hess shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of Occidental Petroleum shares are held by institutional investors. 9.1% of Hess shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Occidental Petroleum shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, HES or OXY?

Occidental Petroleum has higher revenue and earnings than Hess. Hess is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Occidental Petroleum, 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
Hess	$12.90B	3.11	$2.77B	$9.00	14.46
Occidental Petroleum	$26.73B	1.40	$4.70B	$2.44	16.33

Do analysts prefer HES or OXY?

Hess currently has a consensus price target of $164.46, suggesting a potential upside of 26.36%. Occidental Petroleum has a consensus price target of $54.19, suggesting a potential upside of 36.00%. Given Occidental Petroleum's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Occidental Petroleum is more favorable than Hess.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hess	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Occidental Petroleum	2 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14

Does the media refer more to HES or OXY?

In the previous week, Occidental Petroleum had 30 more articles in the media than Hess. MarketBeat recorded 70 mentions for Occidental Petroleum and 40 mentions for Hess. Hess' average media sentiment score of 0.74 beat Occidental Petroleum's score of 0.24 indicating that Hess is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hess	21 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Occidental Petroleum	21 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	17 Neutral mention(s)	11 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Occidental Petroleum beats Hess on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.