Contrasting Suburban Propane Partners (NYSE:SPH) and GAIL (India) (OTCMKTS:GAILF)

Suburban Propane Partners (NYSE:SPH) and GAIL (India) (OTCMKTS:GAILF) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Suburban Propane Partners and GAIL (India)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Suburban Propane Partners	9.37%	18.57%	5.25%
GAIL (India)	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Suburban Propane Partners and GAIL (India), as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Suburban Propane Partners	0	1	0	2	3.33
GAIL (India)	0	0	0	0	0.00

Insider & Institutional Ownership

30.9% of Suburban Propane Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.4% of GAIL (India) shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Suburban Propane Partners shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Suburban Propane Partners and GAIL (India)”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Suburban Propane Partners	$1.43 billion	0.82	$106.57 million	$1.96	9.00
GAIL (India)	N/A	N/A	N/A	$226.38	0.03

Suburban Propane Partners has higher revenue and earnings than GAIL (India). GAIL (India) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Suburban Propane Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Suburban Propane Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.4%. GAIL (India) pays an annual dividend of $60.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 931.0%. Suburban Propane Partners pays out 66.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. GAIL (India) pays out 26.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. GAIL (India) is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Suburban Propane Partners beats GAIL (India) on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Suburban Propane Partners

Suburban Propane Partners, L.P., through its subsidiaries, engages in the retail marketing and distribution of propane, renewable propane, fuel oil, and refined fuels in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Propane, Fuel Oil and Refined Fuels, Natural Gas and Electricity, and All Other. The Propane segment is involved in the retail distribution of propane for space heating, water heating, cooking, and clothes drying for use as a motor fuel in internal combustion engines to power over-the-road vehicles, forklifts, and stationary engines, as well as to fire furnaces as a cutting gas to the industrial customers; and for tobacco curing, crop drying, poultry brooding, and weed control in the agricultural markets. It also engages in the wholesale distribution of propane to industrial end users. Its Fuel Oil and Refined Fuels segment engages in the retail distribution of fuel oil, diesel, kerosene, and gasoline to residential and commercial customers for use in primarily as a source of heat in homes and buildings. The Natural Gas and Electricity segment markets natural gas and electricity to residential and commercial customers in the deregulated energy markets in New York and Pennsylvania. The All Other segment sells, installs, and services a range of home comfort equipment, including whole-house heating products, air cleaners, humidifiers, and space heaters. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural customers primarily in the east and west coast regions of the United States, as well as portions of the Midwest region of the United States and Alaska. Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. was founded in 1945 and is based in Whippany, New Jersey.

About GAIL (India)

GAIL (India) Limited operates as a natural gas processing and distribution company in India and internationally. The company operates through Transmission Services, Natural Gas Marketing, Petrochemicals, LPG and Other Liquid Hydrocarbons, and Other segments. It is involved in the transmission and marketing of natural gas to the power, fertilizer, industrial, automotive, petrochemicals, and domestic and commercial sectors. The company also markets liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), propane, pentane, naphtha, mixed fuel oil, polyethylene, and polypropylene; and manufactures petrochemicals, such as high-density polyethylene and linear low-density polyethylene under the brand names of G-Lex and G-Lene. In addition, it generates wind and solar power. Further, the company engages in the chartering of LNG vessels. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is based in New Delhi, India.