Venture Global (NYSE:VG) & Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Head to Head Analysis

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) and Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) are both large-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Venture Global and Atmos Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Venture Global	$4.97 billion	3.61	N/A	N/A	N/A
Atmos Energy	$4.18 billion	5.60	$1.04 billion	$7.02	21.03

Atmos Energy has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Venture Global.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Venture Global and Atmos Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Venture Global	0	4	8	0	2.67
Atmos Energy	0	4	6	1	2.73

Venture Global currently has a consensus price target of $17.25, indicating a potential upside of 132.79%. Atmos Energy has a consensus price target of $149.15, indicating a potential upside of 1.02%. Given Venture Global’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Venture Global is more favorable than Atmos Energy.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 4.7% of Venture Global shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are held 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 Venture Global and Atmos Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Venture Global	N/A	N/A	N/A
Atmos Energy	25.90%	8.89%	4.31%

Dividends

Venture Global pays an annual dividend of $0.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Atmos Energy pays out 49.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atmos Energy has raised its dividend for 41 consecutive years. Atmos Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Atmos Energy beats Venture Global on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Venture Global

Venture Global has fundamentally reshaped the development and construction of liquefied natural gas production, establishing us as a rapidly growing company delivering critical LNG to the world. Our innovative and disruptive approach, which is both scalable and repeatable, allows us to bring LNG to a global market years faster and at a lower cost. We believe supplying this clean, affordable fuel promotes global energy security and is essential to meeting growing global demand. Natural gas is one of the most important resources worldwide and is required to generate reliable electricity that underpins economic development and drives industry. Once natural gas is supercooled to -260°F, it converts to liquid form and reduces to 1/600th of its original volume, enabling large quantities of natural gas to be loaded and shipped by LNG tankers. The resulting LNG can be transported to international markets that lack domestic supply, displacing more carbon intensive sources of energy such as coal, diesel, and heavy fuel oil, and serving as an integral part of a cleaner energy future. We believe our business model has demonstrated that in a competitive commodity market, lower cost and overall faster delivery wins market share. Our approach capitalizes on both of these advantages, supporting significant additional growth opportunities. Our Projects We are commissioning, constructing, and developing five natural gas liquefaction and export projects near the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana, utilizing our unique “design one, build many” approach. Each project is designed or is being developed to include an LNG facility and associated pipeline systems that interconnect with several interstate and intrastate pipelines to enable the delivery of natural gas into the LNG facility. Our five current projects are being designed to deliver a total expected peak production capacity of 143.8 mtpa, which consists of an aggregate of 104.4 mtpa expected nameplate capacity and an aggregate of 39.4 mtpa of expected excess capacity. These amounts do not account for any potential bolt-on expansion liquefaction capacity. The expected nameplate capacity of our facilities measures the minimum operating performance thresholds guaranteed by the equipment providers, and the expected excess capacity represents the additional LNG that we aim to produce above such guaranteed amounts. Although COD has not yet occurred under the post-COD SPAs for any of our projects, we have been generating proceeds from the sale of commissioning cargos at the Calcasieu Project since the first quarter of 2022, and expect to do so at each of our other projects during commissioning prior to achieving COD for the relevant project or phase of a project. Our direct subsidiary, VGLNG, which owns all of our subsidiaries, was originally established in 2013 by our founders. As part of certain corporate reorganization transactions, or Reorganization Transactions, Venture Global, Inc. was formed in 2023 and became the 100% owner of VGLNG. We are a holding company and have no direct operations. All of our business operations are conducted through our subsidiaries, including VGLNG. Our principal asset is the equity interest in VGLNG, which, together with its subsidiaries, owns substantially all of our operating assets. As a result, we are dependent on the ability of our subsidiaries to generate revenues and to make loans, pay dividends and make other payments to generate the funds necessary to meet our financial obligations and to pay dividends to stockholders, if any. Our principal executive offices are located at 1001 19th Street North, Suite 1500, Arlington, VA.

About Atmos Energy

Atmos Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated natural gas distribution, and pipeline and storage businesses in the United States. It operates through two segments, Distribution, and Pipeline and Storage. The Distribution segment is involved in the regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations in eight states. This segment distributes natural gas to approximately 3.3 million residential, commercial, public authority, and industrial customers; and owned 73,689 miles of underground distribution and transmission mains. The Pipeline and Storage segment engages in the pipeline and storage operations. This segment transports natural gas for third parties and manages five underground storage facilities in Texas; provides ancillary services customary to the pipeline industry, including parking arrangements, lending, and inventory sales; and owned 5,645 miles of gas transmission lines. Atmos Energy Corporation was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.