ENI (NYSE:E) and Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Critical Contrast

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) and ENI (NYSE:E) are both large-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kinder Morgan and ENI”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kinder Morgan	$16.94 billion	4.08	$3.06 billion	$1.56	19.91
ENI	$94.60 billion	0.98	$2.95 billion	$3.91	14.00

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Kinder Morgan and ENI, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kinder Morgan	0	11	8	0	2.42
ENI	0	5	6	2	2.77

Kinder Morgan presently has a consensus target price of $35.77, suggesting a potential upside of 15.14%. ENI has a consensus target price of $60.77, suggesting a potential upside of 11.03%. Given Kinder Morgan’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Kinder Morgan is more favorable than ENI.

Profitability

This table compares Kinder Morgan and ENI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kinder Morgan	19.31%	10.46%	4.65%
ENI	6.51%	11.27%	4.32%

Risk and Volatility

Kinder Morgan has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ENI has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

62.5% of Kinder Morgan shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.2% of ENI shares are held by institutional investors. 12.7% of Kinder Morgan shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of ENI shares are held by 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.

Dividends

Kinder Morgan pays an annual dividend of $1.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. ENI pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Kinder Morgan pays out 76.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. ENI pays out 43.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kinder Morgan has increased its dividend for 9 consecutive years. Kinder Morgan is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Kinder Morgan beats ENI on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan, Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in North America. The company operates through Natural Gas Pipelines, Products Pipelines, Terminals, and CO2 segments. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment owns and operates interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline, and storage systems; natural gas gathering systems and natural gas processing and treating facilities; natural gas liquids fractionation facilities and transportation systems; and liquefied natural gas gasification, liquefaction, and storage facilities. The Products Pipelines segment owns and operates refined petroleum products, and crude oil and condensate pipelines; and associated product terminals and petroleum pipeline transmix facilities. The Terminals segment owns and/or operates liquids and bulk terminals that stores and handles various commodities, including gasoline, diesel fuel, renewable fuel and feedstocks, chemicals, ethanol, metals, and petroleum coke; and owns tankers. The CO2 segment produces, transports, and markets CO2 to recovery and production crude oil from mature oil fields; owns interests in/or operates oil fields and gasoline processing plants; and operates a crude oil pipeline system in West Texas, as well as owns and operates RNG and LNG facilities. It owns and operates approximately 82,000 miles of pipelines and 139 terminals. The company was formerly known as Kinder Morgan Holdco LLC and changed its name to Kinder Morgan, Inc. in February 2011. Kinder Morgan, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Houston, 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.