Head to Head Analysis: Mach Natural Resources (NYSE:MNR) and SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Mach Natural Resources (NYSE:MNR) and SM Energy (NYSE:SM) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Mach Natural Resources and SM Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mach Natural Resources	0	4	2	2	2.75
SM Energy	0	6	9	0	2.60

Mach Natural Resources presently has a consensus price target of $17.50, suggesting a potential upside of 39.05%. SM Energy has a consensus price target of $37.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.30%. Given Mach Natural Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Mach Natural Resources is more favorable than SM Energy.

Volatility & Risk

Mach Natural Resources has a beta of -0.27, indicating that its share price is 127% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SM Energy has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Mach Natural Resources pays an annual dividend of $2.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 20.3%. SM Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Mach Natural Resources pays out 332.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SM Energy pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mach Natural Resources has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and SM Energy has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Mach Natural Resources and SM Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mach Natural Resources	$1.18 billion	1.80	$142.98 million	$0.77	16.34
SM Energy	$3.15 billion	2.03	$648.00 million	$2.38	11.24

SM Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Mach Natural Resources. SM Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mach Natural Resources, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

78.4% of Mach Natural Resources shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.6% of SM Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 87.8% of Mach Natural Resources shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of SM Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Mach Natural Resources and SM Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mach Natural Resources	7.46%	18.46%	9.76%
SM Energy	3.45%	13.93%	6.29%

About Mach Natural Resources

Mach Natural Resources LP, an independent upstream oil and gas company, focuses on the acquisition, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids reserves in the Anadarko Basin region of Western Oklahoma, Southern Kansas, and the panhandle of Texas. It also owns a portfolio of midstream assets, as well as owns plants and water infrastructure. The company was incorporated in 2023 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St. Mary Land & Exploration Company and changed its name to SM Energy Company in May 2010. SM Energy Company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.