Analyzing Core Natural Resources (NYSE:CNR) and Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES)

Core Natural Resources (NYSE:CNR) and Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Core Natural Resources and Western Midstream Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Core Natural Resources	0	2	3	1	2.83
Western Midstream Partners	0	6	3	2	2.64

Core Natural Resources presently has a consensus target price of $115.00, suggesting a potential upside of 29.38%. Western Midstream Partners has a consensus target price of $49.89, suggesting a potential upside of 9.33%. Given Core Natural Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Core Natural Resources is more favorable than Western Midstream Partners.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Core Natural Resources and Western Midstream Partners”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Core Natural Resources	$4.16 billion	1.06	-$153.22 million	$1.99	44.67
Western Midstream Partners	$3.84 billion	4.91	$1.18 billion	$3.18	14.35

Western Midstream Partners has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Core Natural Resources. Western Midstream Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Core Natural Resources, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Core Natural Resources has a beta of 0.25, meaning that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Core Natural Resources and Western Midstream Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Core Natural Resources	2.34%	0.03%	0.02%
Western Midstream Partners	29.44%	33.13%	8.74%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

86.5% of Core Natural Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Western Midstream Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Core Natural Resources shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Western Midstream Partners shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Core Natural Resources pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Western Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.2%. Core Natural Resources pays out 20.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Western Midstream Partners pays out 117.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Western Midstream Partners has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Western Midstream Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Western Midstream Partners beats Core Natural Resources on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Core Natural Resources

Core Natural Resources, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bituminous coal in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Pennsylvania Mining Complex (PAMC) and CONSOL Marine Terminal. The company’s PAMC segment engages in the mining, preparing, and marketing of bituminous coal to power generators, industrial end-users, and metallurgical end-users. This segment includes the Bailey Mine, the Enlow Fork Mine, the Harvey Mine, and the central preparation plant. Its CONSOL Marine Terminal segment provides coal export terminal services through the Port of Baltimore. The company also develops and operates the Itmann Mining Complex located in Wyoming County, West Virginia; and Greenfield Reserves and Resources located in the Northern Appalachian, Central Appalachian, and Illinois basins. The company was formerly known as CONSOL Energy Inc. and changed its name to Core Natural Resources, Inc. in January 2025. Core Natural Resources, Inc. was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

About Western Midstream Partners

Western Midstream Partners, LP, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a midstream energy company primarily in the United States. It is involved in gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and transporting natural gas; gathering, stabilizing, and transporting condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and crude oil; and gathering and disposing produced water. The company also buys and sells natural gas, NGLs, and condensate. It operates assets located in Texas, New Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, and North-central Pennsylvania. Western Midstream Holdings, LLC operates as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as Western Gas Equity Partners, LP and changed its name to Western Midstream Partners, LP in February 2019. Western Midstream Partners, LP was incorporated in 2007 and is based in The Woodlands, Texas.