Critical Analysis: Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) and YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF)

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) and Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

10.1% of YPF Sociedad Anónima shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.7% of Magnolia Oil & Gas shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Magnolia Oil & Gas shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anónima and Magnolia Oil & Gas’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
YPF Sociedad Anónima	3.60%	10.86%	4.20%
Magnolia Oil & Gas	28.77%	21.04%	14.46%

Volatility and Risk

YPF Sociedad Anónima has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Magnolia Oil & Gas has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for YPF Sociedad Anónima and Magnolia Oil & Gas, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
YPF Sociedad Anónima	0	3	3	0	2.50
Magnolia Oil & Gas	0	7	10	1	2.67

YPF Sociedad Anónima presently has a consensus price target of $60.33, suggesting a potential upside of 10.07%. Magnolia Oil & Gas has a consensus price target of $31.71, suggesting a potential upside of 14.21%. Given Magnolia Oil & Gas’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Magnolia Oil & Gas is more favorable than YPF Sociedad Anónima.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anónima and Magnolia Oil & Gas”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
YPF Sociedad Anónima	$18.45 billion	1.17	-$826.00 million	$1.90	28.85
Magnolia Oil & Gas	$1.31 billion	5.02	$325.25 million	$2.28	12.18

Magnolia Oil & Gas has lower revenue, but higher earnings than YPF Sociedad Anónima. Magnolia Oil & Gas is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than YPF Sociedad Anónima, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Magnolia Oil & Gas beats YPF Sociedad Anónima on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About YPF Sociedad Anónima

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 Magnolia Oil & Gas

Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp. engages in the acquisition, development, exploration, and production of oil and natural gas properties. It operates assets located in the Eagle Ford Shale and Austin Chalk formations in South Texas. The company was founded on February 14, 2017 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.