Financial Analysis: YPF Sociedad Anonima (YPF) & VOC Energy Trust (VOC)

YPF Sociedad Anonima (NYSE: YPF) and VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anonima and VOC Energy Trust’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
YPF Sociedad Anonima	$12.85 billion	0.62	$3.42 billion	($4.85)	-4.22
VOC Energy Trust	$8.25 million	7.01	$8.16 million	$0.48	7.08

YPF Sociedad Anonima has higher revenue and earnings than VOC Energy Trust. YPF Sociedad Anonima is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than VOC Energy Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

30.5% of YPF Sociedad Anonima shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.7% of VOC Energy Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares YPF Sociedad Anonima and VOC Energy Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
YPF Sociedad Anonima	-12.86%	-4.17%	-1.18%
VOC Energy Trust	90.57%	9.65%	9.65%

Dividends

YPF Sociedad Anonima pays an annual dividend of $0.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. VOC Energy Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.9%. YPF Sociedad Anonima pays out -1.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. VOC Energy Trust pays out 91.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Risk & Volatility

YPF Sociedad Anonima has a beta of 2.14, indicating that its stock price is 114% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VOC Energy Trust has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for YPF Sociedad Anonima and VOC Energy Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
YPF Sociedad Anonima	1	0	2	0	2.33
VOC Energy Trust	0	0	0	0	N/A

YPF Sociedad Anonima currently has a consensus price target of $23.17, indicating a potential upside of 13.28%. Given YPF Sociedad Anonima’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe YPF Sociedad Anonima is more favorable than VOC Energy Trust.

Summary

YPF Sociedad Anonima beats VOC Energy Trust on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

YPF Sociedad Anonima Company Profile

YPF Sociedad Anonima (YPF) is an energy company. The Company is operating a fully integrated oil and gas chain. The Company operates through the segments, including Exploration and Production, Downstream, and Corporate and Other. The Company’s Exploration and Production segment includes exploration and production activities, natural gas and crude oil purchases, sales of natural gas, and to a lesser extent crude oil, to third parties and intersegment sales of crude oil, natural gas and its byproducts. The Company’s Downstream segment is engaged in the refining, transport, purchase of crude oil and natural gas from third parties and intersegment sales, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas, refined products, petrochemicals, electric power generation and natural gas distribution. The Company’s Corporate and Other segment carries out other activities.

VOC Energy Trust Company Profile

VOC Energy Trust is a statutory trust formed by VOC Brazos Energy Partners, L.P. (VOC Brazos). The business and affairs of the Company are managed by The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as trustee. The Company was created to acquire and hold the net profits interest for the benefit of its unitholders. VOC Brazos’ properties include interests in approximately 820 gross producing wells covering over 91,490 gross acres. VOC Brazos’ properties are developed properties located in oil and natural gas producing regions of Kansas and Texas. VOC Brazos’ fields in the Central Kansas Uplift include Fairport Field, Chase-Silica Field and Marcotte Field. VOC Brazos’ fields in Western Kansas include the Bindley, Moore-Johnson and Wesley fields. VOC Brazos’ fields in South Central Kansas include the Gerberding, Spivey Grabs and Alford fields. VOC Brazos’ proved reserved in Texas are located in the Central Texas and East Texas areas.