Critical Comparison: APA Group (APAJF) vs. Its Rivals

APA Group (OTCMKTS:APAJF) is one of 46 publicly-traded companies in the “Gas Utilities” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare APA Group to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares APA Group and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
APA Group	N/A	N/A	17.31
APA Group Competitors	$2.90 billion	$316.42 million	13.78

APA Group’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than APA Group. APA Group is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for APA Group and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
APA Group	0	1	0	0	2.00
APA Group Competitors	453	1354	1137	52	2.26

APA Group currently has a consensus target price of $9.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.20%. As a group, “Gas Utilities” companies have a potential upside of 10.79%. Given APA Group’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe APA Group is more favorable than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares APA Group and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
APA Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
APA Group Competitors	18.87%	8.44%	3.69%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

20.7% of APA Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.7% of shares of all “Gas Utilities” companies are held by institutional investors. 10.3% of shares of all “Gas Utilities” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

APA Group pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. APA Group pays out 72.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Gas Utilities” companies pay a dividend yield of 12.1% and pay out 17.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. APA Group lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Summary

APA Group competitors beat APA Group on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

About APA Group

APA Group engages in the energy infrastructure business in Australia. The company operates through Energy Infrastructure, Asset Management, and Energy Investments segments. It operates gas transmission pipelines and interconnected grids, gas-fired power stations, electricity transmission interconnectors, solar and wind farms, and battery energy storage systems, as well as gas storage, processing, and compression facilities. The company also has interests in approximately 15,000 kilometers of gas transmission pipelines; approximately 29,500 kilometers of gas mains and pipelines; and 1.5 million gas consumer connections. It also provides asset management and operating services to its energy investments and third parties; and invests in energy infrastructure. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.