Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) Competitors

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) and Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) are both large-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Do analysts rate MPLX or PAA?

Mplx presently has a consensus target price of $49.89, indicating a potential downside of 2.51%. Plains All American Pipeline has a consensus target price of $19.92, indicating a potential downside of 0.68%. Given Plains All American Pipeline's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Plains All American Pipeline is more favorable than Mplx.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mplx	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Plains All American Pipeline	2 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.23

Which has more volatility and risk, MPLX or PAA?

Mplx has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Plains All American Pipeline has a beta of 1.64, meaning that its stock price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MPLX or PAA more profitable?

Mplx has a net margin of 36.77% compared to Plains All American Pipeline's net margin of 2.08%. Mplx's return on equity of 32.70% beat Plains All American Pipeline's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mplx	36.77%	32.70%	11.61%
Plains All American Pipeline	2.08%	11.63%	4.82%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of MPLX or PAA?

24.3% of Mplx shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.8% of Plains All American Pipeline shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Plains All American Pipeline 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.

Is MPLX or PAA a better dividend stock?

Mplx pays an annual dividend of $3.83 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Plains All American Pipeline pays an annual dividend of $1.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Mplx pays out 90.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Plains All American Pipeline pays out 113.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mplx has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Mplx is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MPLX or PAA?

Plains All American Pipeline received 79 more outperform votes than Mplx when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 72.08% of users gave Mplx an outperform vote while only 65.50% of users gave Plains All American Pipeline an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mplx	Outperform Votes 612 72.08%	Underperform Votes 237 27.92%
Plains All American Pipeline	Outperform Votes 691 65.50%	Underperform Votes 364 34.50%

Which has higher valuation & earnings, MPLX or PAA?

Mplx has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Plains All American Pipeline. Mplx is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Plains All American Pipeline, 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
Mplx	$11.28B	4.62	$3.93B	$4.24	12.07
Plains All American Pipeline	$48.71B	0.29	$1.23B	$1.12	17.91

Does the media refer more to MPLX or PAA?

In the previous week, Mplx had 6 more articles in the media than Plains All American Pipeline. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Mplx and 11 mentions for Plains All American Pipeline. Mplx's average media sentiment score of 0.79 beat Plains All American Pipeline's score of 0.50 indicating that Mplx is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Mplx	8 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Plains All American Pipeline	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Mplx beats Plains All American Pipeline on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.