DCP Midstream Partners, (DCP) and Antero Midstream Partners (AM) Critical Comparison

DCP Midstream Partners, (NYSE: DCP) and Antero Midstream Partners (NYSE:AM) are both mid-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitabiliy, dividends, valuation, risk, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares DCP Midstream Partners, and Antero Midstream Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DCP Midstream Partners,	10.53%	8.15%	4.25%
Antero Midstream Partners	38.95%	19.78%	10.55%

Volatility & Risk

DCP Midstream Partners, has a beta of 2.1, indicating that its share price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Antero Midstream Partners has a beta of 1.96, indicating that its share price is 96% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

56.0% of DCP Midstream Partners, shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.9% of Antero Midstream Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of DCP Midstream Partners, shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Antero Midstream Partners shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for DCP Midstream Partners, and Antero Midstream Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DCP Midstream Partners,	1	4	4	0	2.33
Antero Midstream Partners	0	0	13	0	3.00

DCP Midstream Partners, currently has a consensus target price of $40.13, suggesting a potential upside of 16.14%. Antero Midstream Partners has a consensus target price of $39.40, suggesting a potential upside of 15.00%. Given DCP Midstream Partners,’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe DCP Midstream Partners, is more favorable than Antero Midstream Partners.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares DCP Midstream Partners, and Antero Midstream Partners’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DCP Midstream Partners,	$2.16 billion	2.29	$293.00 million	$1.69	20.44
Antero Midstream Partners	$625.05 million	10.19	$409.52 million	$1.36	25.19

Antero Midstream Partners has higher revenue, but lower earnings than DCP Midstream Partners,. DCP Midstream Partners, is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Antero Midstream Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

DCP Midstream Partners, pays an annual dividend of $3.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.0%. Antero Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. DCP Midstream Partners, pays out 184.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Antero Midstream Partners pays out 88.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Antero Midstream Partners beats DCP Midstream Partners, on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DCP Midstream Partners,

DCP Midstream, LP, formerly DCP Midstream Partners, LP, is a producer and marketer of natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the United States. The Company is engaged in the business of gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, storing and selling natural gas; producing, fractionating, transporting, storing and selling NGLs and recovering, and selling condensate, and transporting, storing and selling propane in wholesale markets. Its segments include Natural Gas Services, NGL Logistics and Wholesale Propane Logistics. The Natural Gas Services segment consists of various assets and ownership interests that provide a range of wellhead to market services for its producer customers. It owns and operates assets for its NGL Logistics business in the states of Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas. It owns or operates assets for its wholesale propane logistics business in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virginia.

About Antero Midstream Partners

Antero Midstream Partners LP is a limited partnership formed by Antero Resources Corporation (Antero Resources) to own, operate and develop midstream energy assets to service Antero Resources’ production. The Company’s segments include gathering and compression, and water handling and treatment. The gathering and compression segment includes a network of gathering pipelines, compressor stations, and processing and fractionation plants that collect and process natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and oil from Antero Resources’ wells in West Virginia and Ohio. Its water handling and treatment segment includes two independent fresh water distribution systems from sources including the Ohio River, local reservoirs, as well as several regional waterways. The water handling and treatment segment also includes other fluid handling services which includes, high rate transfer, wastewater transportation, disposal and treatment.