APA Group (OTCMKTS:APAJF) vs. ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) Critical Survey

APA Group (OTCMKTS:APAJF) and ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for APA Group and ONE Gas, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
APA Group	0	1	0	0	2.00
ONE Gas	0	6	6	0	2.50

APA Group currently has a consensus price target of $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.40%. ONE Gas has a consensus price target of $89.23, indicating a potential upside of 10.10%. Given APA Group’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe APA Group is more favorable than ONE Gas.

Dividends

APA Group pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. ONE Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. APA Group pays out 72.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ONE Gas pays out 58.6% 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. ONE Gas has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares APA Group and ONE Gas”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
APA Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.39	19.66
ONE Gas	$2.43 billion	2.10	$264.22 million	$4.64	17.47

ONE Gas has higher revenue and earnings than APA Group. ONE Gas is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than APA Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares APA Group and ONE Gas’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
APA Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
ONE Gas	12.47%	8.81%	3.45%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

20.7% of APA Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of ONE Gas shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of ONE Gas shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

ONE Gas beats APA Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About APA Group

APA Group engages in the energy infrastructure business in Australia. The company operates through Energy Infrastructure, Asset Management, and Energy Investments segments. It operates gas transmission pipelines and interconnected grids, gas-fired power stations, electricity transmission interconnectors, solar and wind farms, and battery energy storage systems, as well as gas storage, processing, and compression facilities. The company also has interests in approximately 15,000 kilometers of gas transmission pipelines; approximately 29,500 kilometers of gas mains and pipelines; and 1.5 million gas consumer connections. It also provides asset management and operating services to its energy investments and third parties; and invests in energy infrastructure. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

About ONE Gas

ONE Gas, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a regulated natural gas distribution company in the United States. The company provides natural gas distribution services to approximately 2.3 million customers in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. It serves residential, commercial, and transportation customers. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.