Head-To-Head Review: Vitesse Energy (NYSE:VTS) & Shell (NYSE:SHEL)

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) and Vitesse Energy (NYSE:VTS) 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 Shell and Vitesse Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shell	0	1	9	3	3.15
Vitesse Energy	0	1	2	1	3.00

Shell presently has a consensus target price of $79.48, suggesting a potential upside of 11.82%. Vitesse Energy has a consensus target price of $29.33, suggesting a potential upside of 27.98%. Given Vitesse Energy’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vitesse Energy is more favorable than Shell.

Dividends

Shell pays an annual dividend of $2.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Vitesse Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.8%. Shell pays out 57.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Vitesse Energy pays out 351.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

28.6% of Shell shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.6% of Vitesse Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Shell shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 15.8% of Vitesse Energy 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.

Profitability

This table compares Shell and Vitesse Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shell	5.57%	12.75%	6.01%
Vitesse Energy	18.05%	7.25%	4.95%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Shell and Vitesse Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shell	$284.31 billion	0.76	$16.09 billion	$5.02	14.16
Vitesse Energy	$242.00 million	3.65	-$19.74 million	$0.64	35.81

Shell has higher revenue and earnings than Vitesse Energy. Shell is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vitesse Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Shell has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vitesse Energy has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Shell beats Vitesse Energy on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shell

Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure to deliver gas to market. The company also markets and trades natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil, electricity, carbon-emission rights; and markets and sells LNG as a fuel for heavy-duty vehicles. In addition, it trades in and refines crude oil and other feed stocks, such as low-carbon fuels, lubricants, bitumen, sulphur, gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, and marine fuel; produces and sells petrochemicals for industrial use; and manages oil sands activities. Further, the company produces base chemicals comprising ethylene, propylene, and aromatics, as well as intermediate chemicals, such as styrene monomer, propylene oxide, solvents, detergent alcohols, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol. Additionally, it generates electricity through wind and solar resources; produces and sells hydrogen; and provides electric vehicle charging services. The company was formerly known as Royal Dutch Shell plc and changed its name to Shell plc in January 2022. Shell plc was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About Vitesse Energy

Vitesse Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, development, and production of non-operated oil and natural gas properties in the United States. It owns and acquires non-operated working interest and royalty interest ownership in the Williston Basin properties located in North Dakota and Montana. The company also owns non-operated interests in the Central Rockies properties located in Colorado and Wyoming. Vitesse Energy, Inc. was founded in 2014 and is based in Centennial, Colorado.