Comparing Woodside Energy Group (NYSE:WDS) & Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC)

Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) and Woodside Energy Group (NYSE:WDS) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Ameresco and Woodside Energy Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameresco	0	2	5	1	2.88
Woodside Energy Group	0	2	1	1	2.75

Ameresco presently has a consensus target price of $25.14, indicating a potential downside of 19.63%. Given Ameresco’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Ameresco is more favorable than Woodside Energy Group.

Profitability

This table compares Ameresco and Woodside Energy Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameresco	3.34%	7.00%	1.74%
Woodside Energy Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.2% of Ameresco shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.2% of Woodside Energy Group shares are held by institutional investors. 45.0% of Ameresco shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Woodside Energy Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ameresco and Woodside Energy Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ameresco	$1.77 billion	0.93	$56.76 million	$1.17	26.74
Woodside Energy Group	$13.18 billion	2.20	$3.57 billion	$0.82	18.65

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

Volatility & Risk

Ameresco has a beta of 2.26, meaning that its stock price is 126% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Woodside Energy Group has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ameresco beats Woodside Energy Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ameresco

Ameresco, Inc., a clean technology integrator, provides a portfolio of energy efficiency and renewable energy supply solutions in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. It operates through U.S. Regions, U.S. Federal, Canada, Europe, Alternative Fuels, and All Other segments. The company offers energy efficiency, infrastructure upgrades, energy security and resilience, asset sustainability, and renewable energy solutions for businesses and organizations. It designs, develops, engineers, and installs projects that reduce the energy, as well as operations and maintenance (O&M) costs of its customers' facilities; and projects primarily include various measures customized for the facility and designed to enhance the efficiency of building systems, such as heating, ventilation, cooling, and lighting systems. In addition, the company offers renewable energy solutions and services, such as the construction of small-scale plants that the company owns or develops for customers that produce electricity, gas, heat, or cooling from renewable sources of energy and O&M services; and electricity, processed renewable gas fuel, and heat or cooling produced from renewable sources of energy. Further, the company sells photovoltaic (PV) solar energy products and systems, as well as provides consulting, and enterprise energy management services; and operates wind farms. It serves the federal, state, local governments, healthcare and educational institutions, airports, public housing authorities and public universities, municipal utilities, and commercial and industrial customers. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated 185 small-scale renewable energy plants and solar PV installations. Ameresco, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts.

About Woodside Energy Group

Woodside Energy Group Ltd engages in the exploration, evaluation, development, production, and marketing of hydrocarbons in the Asia Pacific, Africa, the Americas, and the Europe. The company produces liquefied natural gas, pipeline gas, crude oil and condensate, and natural gas liquids. It holds interests in the Pluto LNG, North West Shelf, Wheatstone and Julimar-Brunello, Bass Strait, Ngujima-Yin FPSO, Okha FPSO, Pyrenees FPSO, Macedon, Shenzi, Mad dog, Greater Angostura, as well as Scarborough, Sangomar, Trion, Calypso, Browse, Liard, Atlantis, Woodside Solar opportunity, and Sunrise and Troubadour. The company involves in development of new energy products and carbon services. The company was formerly known as Woodside Petroleum Ltd and changed its name to Woodside Energy Group Ltd in May 2022. Woodside Energy Group Ltd was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Perth, Australia.