Critical Survey: HF Sinclair (NYSE:DINO) vs. Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) and HF Sinclair (NYSE:DINO) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Equinor ASA and HF Sinclair, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equinor ASA	7	5	4	0	1.81
HF Sinclair	1	5	5	1	2.50

Equinor ASA presently has a consensus target price of $22.71, suggesting a potential downside of 6.36%. HF Sinclair has a consensus target price of $51.82, suggesting a potential upside of 1.39%. Given HF Sinclair’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe HF Sinclair is more favorable than Equinor ASA.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Equinor ASA and HF Sinclair”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equinor ASA	$106.47 billion	0.67	$8.81 billion	$3.01	8.06
HF Sinclair	$28.58 billion	0.33	$177.00 million	($0.46)	-111.11

Equinor ASA has higher revenue and earnings than HF Sinclair. HF Sinclair is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equinor ASA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Equinor ASA pays an annual dividend of $1.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. HF Sinclair pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Equinor ASA pays out 40.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. HF Sinclair pays out -434.8% 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. HF Sinclair has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

Equinor ASA has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HF Sinclair has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Equinor ASA and HF Sinclair’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equinor ASA	7.60%	16.91%	5.43%
HF Sinclair	-0.32%	1.89%	1.06%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

5.5% of Equinor ASA shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.3% of HF Sinclair shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Equinor ASA shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of HF Sinclair shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

About Equinor ASA

Equinor ASA, an energy company, engages in the exploration, production, transportation, refining, and marketing of petroleum and other forms of energy in Norway and internationally. It operates through Exploration & Production Norway; Exploration & Production International; Exploration & Production USA; Marketing, Midstream & Processing; Renewables; and Other segments. The company also transports, processes, manufactures, markets, and trades in oil and gas commodities, such as crude and condensate products, gas liquids, natural gas, and liquefied natural gas; trades in power and emissions; operates refineries, terminals and processing, and power plants; and develops low carbon solutions for oil and gas. In addition, it develops carbon capture and storage projects; provides transportation solutions, including pipelines, shipping, trucking, and rail; and develops and explores for renewable energy, such as offshore wind, green hydrogen, and solar power. The company was formerly known as Statoil ASA and changed its name to Equinor ASA in May 2018. Equinor ASA was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Stavanger, Norway.

About HF Sinclair

HF Sinclair Corporation operates as an independent energy company. The company produces and markets gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, renewable diesel, specialty lubricant products, specialty chemicals, specialty and modified asphalt, and others. It owns and operates refineries located in Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming; and markets its refined products principally in the Southwest United States and Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest, and in other neighboring Plains states. In addition, the company supplies fuels to approximately 1,500 independent Sinclair branded stations and licenses the use of the Sinclair brand at approximately 300 additional locations. Further, it produces base oils and other specialized lubricants; and provides petroleum product and crude oil transportation, terminalling, storage, and throughput services to the petroleum sector. HF Sinclair Corporation is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.