Financial Review: Star Group (SGU) vs. Its Rivals

Star Group (NYSE:SGU) is one of 1,050 public companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Star Group to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Star Group	$1.78 billion	$73.50 million	6.92
Star Group Competitors	$10.76 billion	$5.51 billion	0.53

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

40.4% of Star Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by institutional investors. 20.4% of Star Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.3% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Star Group and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Star Group	4.57%	24.43%	8.39%
Star Group Competitors	-472.92%	19.47%	6.31%

Volatility & Risk

Star Group has a beta of 0.31, indicating that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Star Group’s peers have a beta of -4.03, indicating that their average share price is 503% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Star Group and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Star Group	0	1	0	0	2.00
Star Group Competitors	5960	26925	40745	2403	2.52

As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 16.90%. Given Star Group’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Star Group has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Dividends

Star Group pays an annual dividend of $0.79 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. Star Group pays out 42.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.4% and pay out -119.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Star Group has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Star Group lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Summary

Star Group peers beat Star Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Star Group Company Profile

Star Group, L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides home heating oil and propane products and services to residential and commercial customers in the United States. It offers gasoline and diesel fuel; and installs, maintain, and repairs heating and air conditioning equipment. As of September 30, 2023, the company served approximately 402,200 full service residential and commercial home heating oil and propane customers and 52,400 customers on a delivery only basis. It also sells gasoline and diesel fuel to approximately 26,600 customers. The company was formerly known as Star Gas Partners, L.P. and changed its name to Star Group, L.P. in October 2017. Star Group, L.P. was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Stamford, Connecticut.