Williams Companies (WMB) Competitors

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

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in WMB or KMI?

86.4% of Williams Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.5% of Kinder Morgan shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Williams Companies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.6% of Kinder Morgan shares are owned by company 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.

Is WMB or KMI a better dividend stock?

Williams Companies pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Kinder Morgan pays an annual dividend of $1.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Williams Companies pays out 109.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Kinder Morgan pays out 98.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Kinder Morgan is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WMB or KMI?

Kinder Morgan received 144 more outperform votes than Williams Companies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 71.50% of users gave Williams Companies an outperform vote while only 66.40% of users gave Kinder Morgan an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Williams Companies	Outperform Votes 690 71.50%	Underperform Votes 275 28.50%
Kinder Morgan	Outperform Votes 834 66.40%	Underperform Votes 422 33.60%

Which has more volatility & risk, WMB or KMI?

Williams Companies has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kinder Morgan has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, WMB or KMI?

Kinder Morgan has higher revenue and earnings than Williams Companies. Kinder Morgan is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Williams Companies, 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
Williams Companies	$10.50B	6.67	$2.23B	$1.83	31.39
Kinder Morgan	$15.10B	3.89	$2.61B	$1.17	22.57

Does the media favor WMB or KMI?

In the previous week, Williams Companies had 9 more articles in the media than Kinder Morgan. MarketBeat recorded 50 mentions for Williams Companies and 41 mentions for Kinder Morgan. Kinder Morgan's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat Williams Companies' score of 1.38 indicating that Kinder Morgan is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Williams Companies	41 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kinder Morgan	34 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is WMB or KMI more profitable?

Williams Companies has a net margin of 21.17% compared to Kinder Morgan's net margin of 17.31%. Williams Companies' return on equity of 15.85% beat Kinder Morgan's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Williams Companies	21.17%	15.85%	4.40%
Kinder Morgan	17.31%	8.09%	3.62%

Do analysts rate WMB or KMI?

Williams Companies currently has a consensus target price of $53.29, indicating a potential downside of 7.22%. Kinder Morgan has a consensus target price of $29.14, indicating a potential upside of 10.37%. Given Kinder Morgan's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Kinder Morgan is more favorable than Williams Companies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Williams Companies	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47
Kinder Morgan	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Summary

Williams Companies beats Kinder Morgan on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.