Financial Comparison: Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) vs. ENI (NYSE:E)

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and ENI (NYSE:E) are both large-cap energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Exxon Mobil and ENI”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Exxon Mobil	$339.89 billion	1.37	$33.68 billion	$7.54	14.31
ENI	$98.71 billion	0.56	$2.84 billion	$1.67	19.73

Exxon Mobil has higher revenue and earnings than ENI. Exxon Mobil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ENI, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Exxon Mobil and ENI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Exxon Mobil	9.49%	12.06%	7.21%
ENI	2.85%	9.16%	3.51%

Volatility and Risk

Exxon Mobil has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ENI has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Exxon Mobil pays an annual dividend of $3.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. ENI pays an annual dividend of $1.57 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Exxon Mobil pays out 52.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ENI pays out 94.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Exxon Mobil has increased its dividend for 42 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Exxon Mobil and ENI, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Exxon Mobil	1	9	8	2	2.55
ENI	0	7	2	0	2.22

Exxon Mobil currently has a consensus price target of $125.42, suggesting a potential upside of 16.27%. ENI has a consensus price target of $31.60, suggesting a potential downside of 4.10%. Given Exxon Mobil’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Exxon Mobil is more favorable than ENI.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

61.8% of Exxon Mobil shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.2% of ENI shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Exxon Mobil shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of ENI shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Exxon Mobil beats ENI on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Exxon Mobil

Exxon Mobil Corporation engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas in the United States and internationally. It operates through Upstream, Energy Products, Chemical Products, and Specialty Products segments. The Upstream segment explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas. The Energy Products segment offers fuels, aromatics, catalysts, and licensing services. It sells its products under the Exxon, Esso, and Mobil brands. The Chemical Products segment manufactures and markets petrochemicals, including olefins, polyolefins, and intermediates. The Specialty Products segment offers performance products, including lubricants, basestocks, waxes, synthetics, elastomers, and resins. The company is also involved in the manufacturing, trade, transport, and selling crude oil, natural gas, petroleum products, petrochemicals, and other specialty products in pursuit of lower-emission business opportunities, including carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, lower-emission fuels, and lithium. Exxon Mobil Corporation was founded in 1870 and is based in Spring, Texas.

About ENI

Eni SpA engages in the exploration, production, refining, and sale of oil, gas, electricity, and chemicals. It operates through the following segments: Exploration and Production, Global Gas and LNG Portfolio, Refining & Marketing and Chemicals, Power & Renewables, and Corporate and Other Activities. The Exploration and Production segment engages in research, development and production of oil, condensates and natural gas, forestry conservation (REDD+) and CO2 capture and storage projects. The Global Gas and LNG Portfolio segment refers to the supply and sale of wholesale natural gas by pipeline, international transport and purchase and marketing of LNG, which includes gas trading activities finalized to hedging and stabilizing the trade margins, as well as optimizing the gas asset portfolio. The Refining & Marketing and Chemicals segment engages in supply, processing, distribution, and marketing of fuels and chemicals. The Corporate and Other Activities segment includes the main business support functions in particular holding, central treasury, IT, human resources, real estate services, captive insurance activities, research and development, new technologies, business digitalization, and environmental activities. The company was founded on February 10, 1953 and is headquartered in Rome, Italy.