BW LPG (NYSE:BWLP) & Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Critical Survey

BW LPG (NYSE:BWLP) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for BW LPG and Occidental Petroleum, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BW LPG	0	1	4	0	2.80
Occidental Petroleum	0	17	10	0	2.37

Occidental Petroleum has a consensus price target of $64.96, indicating a potential upside of 6.25%. Given Occidental Petroleum’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Occidental Petroleum is more favorable than BW LPG.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BW LPG and Occidental Petroleum”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BW LPG	$3.58 billion	1.06	$242.31 million	$2.94	8.51
Occidental Petroleum	$22.07 billion	2.77	$2.33 billion	$6.46	9.46

Occidental Petroleum has higher revenue and earnings than BW LPG. BW LPG is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Occidental Petroleum, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

BW LPG pays an annual dividend of $3.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.2%. Occidental Petroleum pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. BW LPG pays out 129.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Occidental Petroleum pays out 16.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Occidental Petroleum has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

88.7% of Occidental Petroleum shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Occidental Petroleum shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

BW LPG has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Occidental Petroleum has a beta of 0.16, meaning that its share price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares BW LPG and Occidental Petroleum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BW LPG	12.64%	22.48%	13.50%
Occidental Petroleum	28.36%	15.31%	5.69%

Summary

Occidental Petroleum beats BW LPG on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BW LPG

BW LPG Limited, an investment holding company, engages in ship owning and chartering activities worldwide. The company operates through Shipping and Product Services segments. The company involved in the transportation of liquefied petroleum gas to oil companies, and trading and utility companies. It also offers integrated liquified petroleum gas (LPG) delivery services and support; wholesale and trade of LPG; and management services. It owns and operates LPG vessels and a fleet of very large gas carriers. The company was formerly known as BW Gas LPG Holding Limited and changed its name to BW LPG Limited in September 2013. BW LPG Limited was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The company's Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas. Its Chemical segment manufactures and markets basic chemicals, including chlorine, caustic soda, chlorinated organics, potassium chemicals, ethylene dichloride, chlorinated isocyanurates, sodium silicates, and calcium chloride; and vinyls comprising vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride, and ethylene. The Midstream and Marketing segment gathers, processes, transports, stores, purchases, and markets oil, condensate, NGLs, natural gas, carbon dioxide, and power. This segment also invests in entities. Occidental Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.