Critical Review: SunocoCorp (SUNC) vs. Its Peers

SunocoCorp (NYSE:SUNC) is one of 1,051 publicly-traded companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare SunocoCorp to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SunocoCorp and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
SunocoCorp	$25.20 billion	-$5.00 million	28.54
SunocoCorp Competitors	$10.64 billion	$5.52 billion	2.39

SunocoCorp has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. SunocoCorp is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

30.7% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of SunocoCorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 15.3% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

SunocoCorp pays an annual dividend of $4.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. SunocoCorp pays out 138.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.8% and pay out -112.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. SunocoCorp lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares SunocoCorp and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SunocoCorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
SunocoCorp Competitors	-470.98%	7.00%	6.05%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for SunocoCorp and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SunocoCorp	1	1	3	1	2.67
SunocoCorp Competitors	5849	26521	40073	2288	2.52

SunocoCorp currently has a consensus target price of $81.00, suggesting a potential downside of 1.79%. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 17.86%. Given SunocoCorp’s peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SunocoCorp has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

SunocoCorp peers beat SunocoCorp on 9 of the 14 factors compared.

About SunocoCorp

Sunoco LP is an energy infrastructure and fuel distribution master limited partnership. Sunoco LP is based in DALLAS.