Marathon Oil (MRO) Competitors

EQT (NYSE:EQT) and Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) are both large-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, community ranking and earnings.

Is EQT or MRO a better dividend stock?

EQT pays an annual dividend of $0.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Marathon Oil pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. EQT pays out 45.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Marathon Oil pays out 18.2% 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. EQT has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Marathon Oil has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Marathon Oil is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has better earnings & valuation, EQT or MRO?

EQT has higher revenue and earnings than Marathon Oil. Marathon Oil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than EQT, 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
EQT	$6.91B	2.63	$1.74B	$1.38	29.83
Marathon Oil	$6.70B	2.21	$1.55B	$2.42	10.83

Which has more volatility and risk, EQT or MRO?

EQT has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marathon Oil has a beta of 2.22, indicating that its stock price is 122% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer EQT or MRO?

Marathon Oil received 226 more outperform votes than EQT when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 68.23% of users gave EQT an outperform vote while only 65.96% of users gave Marathon Oil an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
EQT	Outperform Votes 799 68.23%	Underperform Votes 372 31.77%
Marathon Oil	Outperform Votes 1025 65.96%	Underperform Votes 529 34.04%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in EQT or MRO?

90.8% of EQT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of Marathon Oil shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of EQT shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Marathon Oil shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer EQT or MRO?

EQT currently has a consensus price target of $44.94, suggesting a potential upside of 9.16%. Marathon Oil has a consensus price target of $33.14, suggesting a potential upside of 26.44%. Given EQT's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Marathon Oil is more favorable than EQT.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
EQT	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.56
Marathon Oil	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.81

Does the media prefer EQT or MRO?

In the previous week, EQT had 10 more articles in the media than Marathon Oil. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for EQT and 10 mentions for Marathon Oil. EQT's average media sentiment score of 1.10 beat Marathon Oil's score of 0.65 indicating that Marathon Oil is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
EQT	4 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Marathon Oil	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is EQT or MRO more profitable?

Marathon Oil has a net margin of 21.83% compared to Marathon Oil's net margin of 10.96%. EQT's return on equity of 13.24% beat Marathon Oil's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
EQT	10.96%	4.57%	2.66%
Marathon Oil	21.83%	13.24%	7.51%

Summary

Marathon Oil beats EQT on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.