Murphy USA (MUSA) Competitors

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) and Archrock (NYSE:AROC) are related mid-cap companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of MUSA or AROC?

80.8% of Murphy USA shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Archrock shares are held by institutional investors. 9.0% of Murphy USA shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Archrock shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend MUSA or AROC?

Murphy USA presently has a consensus target price of $526.29, indicating a potential upside of 23.20%. Archrock has a consensus target price of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.53%. Given Murphy USA's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Murphy USA is more favorable than Archrock.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Murphy USA	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63
Archrock	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Does the media favor MUSA or AROC?

In the previous week, Murphy USA had 1 more articles in the media than Archrock. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Murphy USA and 11 mentions for Archrock. Archrock's average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat Murphy USA's score of 0.97 indicating that Archrock is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Murphy USA	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Archrock	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, MUSA or AROC?

Murphy USA has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Archrock has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MUSA or AROC a better dividend stock?

Murphy USA pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Archrock pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Murphy USA pays out 8.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Archrock pays out 64.4% 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. Murphy USA has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Archrock has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Is MUSA or AROC more profitable?

Archrock has a net margin of 16.38% compared to Murphy USA's net margin of 2.46%. Murphy USA's return on equity of 61.19% beat Archrock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Murphy USA	2.46%	61.19%	10.96%
Archrock	16.38%	18.31%	6.21%

Which has better valuation & earnings, MUSA or AROC?

Murphy USA has higher revenue and earnings than Archrock. Murphy USA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Archrock, 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
Murphy USA	$20.24B	0.42	$502.50M	$23.71	18.02
Archrock	$1.16B	3.57	$172.23M	$1.18	19.81

Summary

Murphy USA beats Archrock on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.