YPF Sociedad Anonima (NYSE:YPF) vs. Vista Energy (NYSE:VIST) Financial Analysis

YPF Sociedad Anonima (NYSE:YPF) and Vista Energy (NYSE:VIST) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for YPF Sociedad Anonima and Vista Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
YPF Sociedad Anonima	0	5	3	0	2.38
Vista Energy	0	2	3	2	3.00

YPF Sociedad Anonima presently has a consensus price target of $43.60, indicating a potential upside of 14.98%. Vista Energy has a consensus price target of $59.60, indicating a potential upside of 17.03%. Given Vista Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Vista Energy is more favorable than YPF Sociedad Anonima.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.1% of YPF Sociedad Anonima shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.8% of Vista Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

YPF Sociedad Anonima has a beta of 1.73, suggesting that its stock price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vista Energy has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anonima and Vista Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
YPF Sociedad Anonima	6.32%	12.39%	5.07%
Vista Energy	32.66%	15.92%	5.77%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anonima and Vista Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
YPF Sociedad Anonima	$18.47 billion	0.81	$2.35 billion	($1.18)	-32.14
Vista Energy	$1.65 billion	3.22	$477.52 million	$6.80	7.49

YPF Sociedad Anonima has higher revenue and earnings than Vista Energy. YPF Sociedad Anonima is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vista Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Vista Energy beats YPF Sociedad Anonima on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About YPF Sociedad Anonima

YPF Sociedad Anónima, an energy company, engages in the oil and gas upstream and downstream activities in Argentina. Its upstream operations include the exploration, exploitation, and production of crude oil, and natural gas. The company’s downstream operations include petrochemical production and crude oil refining; transportation and distribution refined and petrochemical products; commercialization of crude oil, petrochemical products, and specialties. Its gas and power operations include transportation, commercialization, and distribution of natural gas; operation of regasification terminals; conditioning, processing, and separation of natural gas; and power generation. The company had interests in oil and gas fields. It also had a retail distribution network and retail service stations. In addition, the company owns and operates refineries, as well as maintains terminal facilities Argentine ports. Further, it participates in power generation plants; offers diesel, fertilizers, lubricants, phytosanitary products, and ensiling bags; and supplies diesel, gasoline, fuel oil, coal, asphalts, paraffin, and sulfur, CO2, decanted oil, and aromatic extract. The company was incorporated in 1977 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

About Vista Energy

Vista Energy, S.A.B. de C.V., through its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and production of oil and gas in Latin America. The company's principal assets located in Neuquina basin, Argentina and Vaca Muerta. It owns producing assets in Argentina and Mexico. In addition, the company involved in drilling and workover activities located in Argentina. The company was formerly known as Vista Oil & Gas, S.A.B. de C.V. and changed its name to Vista Energy, S.A.B. de C.V. in April 2022. Vista Energy, S.A.B. de C.V. was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Mexico City, Mexico.