Critical Comparison: World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) & Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC)

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) and World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Marathon Petroleum and World Kinect”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marathon Petroleum	$147.79 billion	0.38	$9.68 billion	$20.02	7.91
World Kinect	$46.16 billion	0.04	$52.90 million	$0.93	33.39

Marathon Petroleum has higher revenue and earnings than World Kinect. Marathon Petroleum is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than World Kinect, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Marathon Petroleum and World Kinect, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marathon Petroleum	2	5	9	1	2.53
World Kinect	2	1	2	0	2.00

Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus target price of $187.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.13%. World Kinect has a consensus target price of $30.40, indicating a potential downside of 2.09%. Given Marathon Petroleum’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Marathon Petroleum is more favorable than World Kinect.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

76.8% of Marathon Petroleum shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.1% of World Kinect shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Marathon Petroleum shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of World Kinect shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Marathon Petroleum and World Kinect’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marathon Petroleum	4.79%	24.05%	8.28%
World Kinect	0.29%	6.26%	1.70%

Dividends

Marathon Petroleum pays an annual dividend of $3.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. World Kinect pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Marathon Petroleum pays out 16.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. World Kinect pays out 73.1% 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.

Volatility & Risk

Marathon Petroleum has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, World Kinect has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Marathon Petroleum beats World Kinect on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Marathon Petroleum

Marathon Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated downstream energy company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Refining & Marketing, and Midstream segments. The Refining & Marketing segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks at its refineries in the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent, and West Coast regions of the United States; and purchases refined products and ethanol for resale and distributes refined products, including renewable diesel, through transportation, storage, distribution, and marketing services. Its refined products include transportation fuels, such as reformulated gasolines and blend-grade gasolines; heavy fuel oil; and asphalt. This segment also manufactures propane and petrochemicals. It sells refined products to wholesale marketing customers in the United States and internationally, buyers on the spot market, and independent entrepreneurs who operate primarily Marathon branded outlets, as well as through long-term fuel supply contracts to direct dealer locations primarily under the ARCO brand. The Midstream segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil and refined products through refining logistics assets, pipelines, terminals, towboats, and barges; gathers, processes, and transports natural gas; and gathers, transports, fractionates, stores, and markets natural gas liquids. Marathon Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio.

About World Kinect

World Kinect Corporation operates as an energy management company in the United States, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. This segment also offers fuel management, price risk management, ground handling, dispatch services, and trip planning services, such as flight planning and scheduling, weather reports and overflight permits; payment and processing services; and operates a web-based marketplace platform. The Land segment offers fuel, lubricants, heating oil, and related products and services to retail petroleum operators, as well as industrial, commercial, residential and government customers. This segment also provides sustainability solutions, such as renewable fuel products, carbon management, and renewable energy solutions; distributes fuel under long-term contracts to branded and unbranded distributors, convenience stores, and retail fuel outlets operated by third parties; distributes heating oil and unbranded fuel; and transportation logistics. The Marine segment markets fuel, lubricants, and related products and services to international container, dry bulk and tanker fleets, commercial cruise lines, yachts and time charter operators, offshore rig owners and operators, the U.S. and foreign governments, and other fuel suppliers. This segment also offers marine fuel-related services include management services to procurement of fuel, price risk management, cost control, quality control, and claims management services; and engages in the fueling of vessels, and transportation and delivery of fuel and fuel-related products. The company was formerly known as World Fuel Services Corporation and changed its name to World Kinect Corporation in June 2023. World Kinect Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.