Financial Review: Toro (NASDAQ:TORO) vs. Plains All American Pipeline (NASDAQ:PAA)
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyPlains All American Pipeline (NASDAQ:PAA – Get Free Report) and Toro (NASDAQ:TORO – Get Free Report) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability and risk.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Plains All American Pipeline and Toro, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Plains All American Pipeline | 2 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 2.41 |
| Toro | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Plains All American Pipeline presently has a consensus target price of $25.43, suggesting a potential upside of 4.13%. Given Plains All American Pipeline’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Plains All American Pipeline is more favorable than Toro.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
41.8% of Plains All American Pipeline shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.7% of Toro shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Plains All American Pipeline shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Plains All American Pipeline and Toro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Plains All American Pipeline | 5.29% | 12.13% | 4.59% |
| Toro | 22.67% | 2.49% | 1.43% |
Risk & Volatility
Plains All American Pipeline has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Toro has a beta of 2.55, suggesting that its share price is 155% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Plains All American Pipeline and Toro”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Plains All American Pipeline | $52.30 billion | 0.33 | $1.44 billion | $3.61 | 6.76 |
| Toro | $21.51 million | 5.27 | $5.93 million | $0.04 | 132.00 |
Plains All American Pipeline has higher revenue and earnings than Toro. Plains All American Pipeline is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Toro, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Plains All American Pipeline beats Toro on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Plains All American Pipeline
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., through its subsidiaries, engages in the pipeline transportation, terminalling, storage, and gathering of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the United States and Canada. The company operates in two segments, Crude Oil and NGL. The Crude Oil segment offers gathering and transporting crude oil through pipelines, gathering systems, trucks, and at times on barges or railcars. This segment provides terminalling, storage, and other facilities-related services, as well as merchant activities. As of December 31, 2021, this segment owned and leased 18,300 miles of active crude oil transportation pipelines and gathering systems, as well as an additional 110 miles of pipelines that supports crude oil storage and terminalling facilities; 74 million barrels of commercial crude oil storage capacity; 38 million barrels of active, above-ground tank capacity; four marine facilities; a condensate processing facility; seven crude oil rail terminals and 2,100 crude oil railcars; and 640 trucks and 1,275 trailers. The Natural Gas Liquids segment engages in the natural gas processing, NGL fractionation, storage, transportation, and terminalling activities. As of December 31, 2021, this segment owned and operated four natural gas processing plants; nine fractionation plants; 28 million barrels of NGL storage capacity; approximately 1,620 miles of active NGL transportation pipelines, as well as an additional 55 miles of pipeline that supports NGL storage facilities; 16 NGL rail terminals and approximately 3,900 NGL rail cars; and approximately 220 trailers. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
About Toro
Toro Corp., a shipping company, acquires, owns, charters, and operates oceangoing tanker vessels and provides seaborne transportation services for crude oil LPG, and refined petroleum products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Aframax/LR2 Tanker, Handysize Tanker, and LPG Carrier. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of one Handysize tanker vessel; one Aframax/LR2 vessel; and four LPG carrier vessels with an aggregate cargo carrying capacity of 0.1 million deadweight ton. Toro Corp. was incorporated in 2022 and is based in Limassol, Cyprus.