Reviewing Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) & Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD)

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) and Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Enterprise Products Partners and Torm, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Enterprise Products Partners	1	10	7	0	2.33
Torm	0	2	1	1	2.75

Enterprise Products Partners presently has a consensus target price of $40.12, indicating a potential upside of 7.52%. Torm has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.69%. Given Enterprise Products Partners’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Enterprise Products Partners is more favorable than Torm.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

26.1% of Enterprise Products Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of Torm shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.6% of Enterprise Products Partners shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Torm shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Enterprise Products Partners and Torm’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Enterprise Products Partners	10.79%	20.67%	7.93%
Torm	35.51%	27.24%	17.96%

Volatility and Risk

Enterprise Products Partners has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Torm has a beta of 0.07, suggesting that its stock price is 93% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Enterprise Products Partners pays an annual dividend of $2.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Torm pays an annual dividend of $7.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.0%. Enterprise Products Partners pays out 77.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Torm pays out 115.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Enterprise Products Partners has raised its dividend for 28 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Enterprise Products Partners and Torm”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Enterprise Products Partners	$52.60 billion	1.53	$5.81 billion	$2.88	12.96
Torm	$1.34 billion	2.97	$285.30 million	$6.07	6.43

Enterprise Products Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Torm. Torm is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Enterprise Products Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Enterprise Products Partners

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, petrochemicals, and refined products. It operates in four segments: NGL Pipelines & Services, Crude Oil Pipelines & Services, Natural Gas Pipelines & Services, and Petrochemical & Refined Products Services. The NGL Pipelines & Services segment offers natural gas processing and related NGL marketing services. It operates natural gas processing facilities located in Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming; NGL pipelines; NGL fractionation facilities; NGL and related product storage facilities; and NGL marine terminals. The Crude Oil Pipelines & Services segment operates crude oil pipelines; and crude oil storage and marine terminals, which include a fleet of approximately 250 tractor-trailer tank trucks that are used to transport crude oil. It also engages in crude oil marketing activities. The Natural Gas Pipelines & Services segment operates natural gas pipeline systems to gather, treat, and transport natural gas. It leases underground salt dome natural gas storage facilities in Napoleonville, Louisiana; owns an underground salt dome storage cavern in Wharton County, Texas; and markets natural gas. The Petrochemical & Refined Products Services segment operates propylene fractionation facilities, including propylene fractionation units and propane dehydrogenation facilities, and related marketing activities; butane isomerization complex and related deisobutanizer operations; and octane enhancement, isobutane dehydrogenation, and high purity isobutylene production facilities. It also operates refined products pipelines and terminals; and ethylene export terminals; and provides refined products marketing and marine transportation services. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Torm

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil. The Marine Exhaust segment engages in developing and producing advanced and green marine equipment. TORM plc was founded in 1889 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.