Eclipse Resources Corporation (NYSE: ECR) and Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and earnings.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
92.4% of Eclipse Resources Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 23.6% of Williams Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Eclipse Resources Corporation shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Risk and Volatility
Eclipse Resources Corporation has a beta of 3.01, suggesting that its share price is 201% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Williams Partners has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
Williams Partners pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.4%. Eclipse Resources Corporation does not pay a dividend. Williams Partners pays out 143.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Profitability
This table compares Eclipse Resources Corporation and Williams Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Eclipse Resources Corporation | -15.86% | -5.22% | -2.53% |
| Williams Partners | 17.82% | 5.90% | 3.03% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Eclipse Resources Corporation and Williams Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Eclipse Resources Corporation | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2.56 |
| Williams Partners | 0 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 2.86 |
Eclipse Resources Corporation presently has a consensus price target of $3.68, suggesting a potential upside of 65.72%. Williams Partners has a consensus price target of $44.67, suggesting a potential upside of 18.35%. Given Eclipse Resources Corporation’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Eclipse Resources Corporation is more favorable than Williams Partners.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Eclipse Resources Corporation and Williams Partners’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Eclipse Resources Corporation | $326.42 million | 1.79 | $138.82 million | ($0.19) | -11.68 |
| Williams Partners | $8.00 billion | 4.51 | $3.78 billion | $1.67 | 22.60 |
Williams Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Eclipse Resources Corporation. Eclipse Resources Corporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Williams Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Williams Partners beats Eclipse Resources Corporation on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Eclipse Resources Corporation
Eclipse Resources Corporation is an independent exploration and production company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition and development of oil and natural gas properties in the Appalachian Basin. The Company is the operator of the Utica Core Area and its Marcellus Project Area. The Ordovician-aged Utica Shale is an unconventional reservoir consisting of organic-rich black shale, with production occurring at vertical depths between 6,000 and 10,000 feet. The Marcellus Shale consists of organic-rich black shale, with production occurring at vertical depths between 5,000 and 8,000 feet. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had commenced drilling 202 gross wells within the Utica Core Area and three gross wells within its Marcellus Area. As of December 31, 2016, it had approximately 92,000 net acres in the Utica Shale in Eastern Ohio within the Utica Core Area. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had assembled an acreage position approximating 199,000 net acres in Eastern Ohio.
About Williams Partners
Williams Partners L.P. is an energy infrastructure company. The Company has operations across the natural gas value chain from gathering, processing, and interstate transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids to petchem production of ethylene, propylene, and other olefins. It operates through its Northeast G&P, Atlantic-Gulf, West segment. Under the Northeast G&P segment, it owns and operates fractionation facilities at Moundsville, de-ethanization and condensate facilities at its Oak Grove processing plant. The Atlantic Gulf segment includes the Company’s interstate natural gas pipeline, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC. The West segment includes its interstate natural gas pipeline, Northwest Pipeline, and natural gas gathering processing and treating operations.
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