National Grid (NGG) Competitors

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) and National Grid (NYSE:NGG) are both large-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WMB or NGG?

Williams Companies received 178 more outperform votes than National Grid when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.88% of users gave Williams Companies an outperform vote while only 58.78% of users gave National Grid an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Williams Companies	Outperform Votes 690 71.88%	Underperform Votes 270 28.13%
National Grid	Outperform Votes 512 58.78%	Underperform Votes 359 41.22%

Is WMB or NGG a better dividend stock?

Williams Companies pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. National Grid pays an annual dividend of $2.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Williams Companies pays out 80.2% 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 rate WMB or NGG?

Williams Companies currently has a consensus target price of $51.54, suggesting a potential downside of 12.20%. Given Williams Companies' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Williams Companies is more favorable than National Grid.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Williams Companies	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
National Grid	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Is WMB or NGG more profitable?

Williams Companies has a net margin of 27.36% compared to National Grid's net margin of 0.00%. Williams Companies' return on equity of 15.89% beat National Grid's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Williams Companies	27.36%	15.89%	4.45%
National Grid	N/A	N/A	N/A

Does the media prefer WMB or NGG?

In the previous week, Williams Companies had 22 more articles in the media than National Grid. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for Williams Companies and 8 mentions for National Grid. Williams Companies' average media sentiment score of 1.15 beat National Grid's score of 0.79 indicating that Williams Companies is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Williams Companies	21 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
National Grid	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, WMB or NGG?

Williams Companies has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Grid has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, WMB or NGG?

Williams Companies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than National Grid.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Williams Companies	$10.91B	6.56	$3.18B	$2.37	24.77
National Grid	$19.32B	3.20	$2.88B	N/A	N/A

Do insiders and institutionals believe in WMB or NGG?

86.4% of Williams Companies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.7% of National Grid shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Williams Companies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Williams Companies beats National Grid on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.