Both Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) and Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) are Independent Oil & Gas companies, competing one another. We will contrast their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southwestern Energy Company	3.86B	0.66	535.00M	0.92	5.12
Murphy Oil Corporation	2.59B	1.92	414.62M	1.60	18.84

We can see in table 1 the earnings per share, top-line revenue and valuation of Southwestern Energy Company and Murphy Oil Corporation. Murphy Oil Corporation seems to has lower revenue, but higher earnings compared to Southwestern Energy Company. When company has lower price-to-earnings means it is more affordable than its counterpart currently. Southwestern Energy Company is currently more affordable than Murphy Oil Corporation, because it’s trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio.

Profitability

Table 2 provides Southwestern Energy Company and Murphy Oil Corporation’s return on assets, net margins and return on equity.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southwestern Energy Company	13.86%	22.9%	6.7%
Murphy Oil Corporation	16.01%	8.7%	4%

Risk & Volatility

A 1.31 beta means Southwestern Energy Company’s volatility is 31.00% more than Standard & Poor’s 500’s volatility. Murphy Oil Corporation’s 2.22 beta is the reason why it is 122.00% more volatile than Standard & Poor’s 500.

Liquidity

The current Quick Ratio of Southwestern Energy Company is 0.7 while its Current Ratio is 0.7. Meanwhile, Murphy Oil Corporation has a Current Ratio of 1 while its Quick Ratio is 0.9. Murphy Oil Corporation is better positioned to pay off its short-term and long-term debts than Southwestern Energy Company.

Dividends

Murphy Oil Corporation offers an annual dividend of $1 per share, bundled with 3.51% dividend yield. No dividend is paid out for Southwestern Energy Company.

Analyst Ratings

In next table is shown Southwestern Energy Company and Murphy Oil Corporation’s ratings and recommendations.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southwestern Energy Company	1	3	1	2.20
Murphy Oil Corporation	1	2	0	2.67

Southwestern Energy Company has a consensus price target of $5.58, and a 17.97% upside potential. Competitively Murphy Oil Corporation has a consensus price target of $31, with potential upside of 8.20%. The results provided earlier shows that Southwestern Energy Company appears more favorable than Murphy Oil Corporation, based on analyst opinion.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

Southwestern Energy Company and Murphy Oil Corporation has shares owned by institutional investors as follows: 95.5% and 93.5%. About 0.1% of Southwestern Energy Company’s share are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% are Murphy Oil Corporation’s share owned by insiders.

Performance

In this table we show the Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half Yearly, Yearly and YTD Performance of both pretenders.

	Performance (W)	Performance (M)	Performance (Q)	Performance (HY)	Performance (Y)	Performance (YTD)
Southwestern Energy Company	7.03%	8.01%	-4.65%	-15.11%	27.22%	38.42%
Murphy Oil Corporation	1.86%	10.27%	-5.84%	-3.55%	16.81%	28.94%

For the past year Southwestern Energy Company has stronger performance than Murphy Oil Corporation

Summary

Murphy Oil Corporation beats on 10 of the 16 factors Southwestern Energy Company.

Southwestern Energy Company, an independent natural gas and oil company, engages in the exploration, development, and production of natural gas and oil in the United States. It operates through two segments, Exploration and Production, and Midstream Services. The company focuses on the Marcellus Shale, an unconventional natural gas reservoir covering approximately 245,805 net acres in Northeast Appalachia; Marcellus, Utica, and Upper Devonian Shales covering approximately 321,563 net acres in Southwest Appalachia; and the Fayetteville Shale, an unconventional gas reservoir covering approximately 918,535 net acres in Arkansas. It also engages in the exploration and production activities in Colorado and Louisiana. In addition, the company is involved in gathering, marketing, and transporting natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids. As of December 31, 2016, it had a pipeline of 2,045 miles in Arkansas and 16 miles in Louisiana in its gathering systems. The companyÂ’s estimated proved natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids reserves comprise 5,253 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent (Bcfe); and 77 Bcfe of proved undeveloped reserves. Southwestern Energy Company was founded in 1929 and is based in Spring, Texas.

Murphy Oil Corporation operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company worldwide. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964. Murphy Oil Corporation was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas.