Viper Energy Partners (NASDAQ:VNOM – Get Rating) and Enerplus (NYSE:ERF – Get Rating) are both mid-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
40.2% of Viper Energy Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.0% of Enerplus shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Viper Energy Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Enerplus shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Viper Energy Partners and Enerplus, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Viper Energy Partners | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Enerplus | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2.80 |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Viper Energy Partners and Enerplus’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Viper Energy Partners | $832.55 million | 5.18 | $151.67 million | $2.26 | 11.69 |
| Enerplus | $2.36 billion | 1.27 | $914.30 million | $4.32 | 3.24 |
Enerplus has higher revenue and earnings than Viper Energy Partners. Enerplus is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Viper Energy Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
Viper Energy Partners has a beta of 1.92, indicating that its share price is 92% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Enerplus has a beta of 2.18, indicating that its share price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Viper Energy Partners and Enerplus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Viper Energy Partners | 20.28% | 7.26% | 5.60% |
| Enerplus | 44.08% | 72.62% | 34.82% |
Dividends
Viper Energy Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Enerplus pays an annual dividend of $0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Viper Energy Partners pays out 44.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Enerplus pays out 4.9% 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. Enerplus has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.
Summary
Enerplus beats Viper Energy Partners on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Viper Energy Partners
Viper Energy Partners LP engages in the acquisition of oil and natural gas properties. It owns, acquires, and exploits oil and natural gas properties in North America. The company was founded on February 27, 2014 and is headquartered in Midland, TX.
About Enerplus
Enerplus Corp. engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. It conducts operations in Willston Basin, Marcellus Shale, and Canadian Waterfloods. The firm holds interests in North Dakota, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
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