Williams Companies (WMB) Competitors

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

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, WMB or KMI?

Williams Companies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Kinder Morgan. Williams Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kinder Morgan, 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	$10.91B	6.32	$3.18B	$2.37	23.86
Kinder Morgan	$15.33B	3.95	$2.39B	$1.14	23.92

Does the media refer more to WMB or KMI?

In the previous week, Williams Companies had 4 more articles in the media than Kinder Morgan. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for Williams Companies and 22 mentions for Kinder Morgan. Kinder Morgan's average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat Williams Companies' score of 0.99 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	20 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kinder Morgan	20 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is WMB or KMI a better dividend stock?

Williams Companies pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Kinder Morgan pays an annual dividend of $1.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. 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. Kinder Morgan pays out 100.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Is WMB or KMI more profitable?

Williams Companies has a net margin of 27.36% compared to Kinder Morgan's net margin of 16.76%. Williams Companies' return on equity of 15.89% beat Kinder Morgan's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Williams Companies	27.36%	15.89%	4.45%
Kinder Morgan	16.76%	7.87%	3.52%

Do analysts rate WMB or KMI?

Williams Companies presently has a consensus price target of $51.54, indicating a potential downside of 8.86%. Kinder Morgan has a consensus price target of $25.36, indicating a potential downside of 6.99%. Given Kinder Morgan's stronger consensus rating and higher probable 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)	6 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Kinder Morgan	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WMB or KMI?

Kinder Morgan received 138 more outperform votes than Williams Companies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 71.88% of users gave Williams Companies an outperform vote while only 66.56% of users gave Kinder Morgan an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Williams Companies	Outperform Votes 690 71.88%	Underperform Votes 270 28.13%
Kinder Morgan	Outperform Votes 828 66.56%	Underperform Votes 416 33.44%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of WMB or KMI?

86.4% of Williams Companies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.5% of Kinder Morgan shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Williams Companies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.6% of Kinder Morgan shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, WMB or KMI?

Williams Companies has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kinder Morgan has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Williams Companies beats Kinder Morgan on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.