ARIS vs NGL: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: ARIS is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ARIS and NGL share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ARIS and NGL exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Aris Mining produces gold from the Segovia complex in Antioquia, Colombia, and the Marmato mine in Caldas, Colombia. Segovia is the engine: it delivered roughly 64 thousand ounces in the second quarter of 2026 from ore grading above 10 grams per tonne, which is high by industry standards. Segovia is also unusual in how it sources ore. Alongside its own underground development, Aris buys ore from formalized local small-scale miners working within its titles and processes it through the company plant, an arrangement that adds volume without the full capital cost of developing every heading itself. Marmato is the growth story: a 5,000 tonne per day carbon-in-pulp plant tied to the Lower Mine is under construction, with first gold targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026. Beyond the two producing assets sit the Soto Norte joint venture in Santander, the Toroparu project in Guyana, and exploration ground in Canada.

Full ARIS guide

NGL Energy Partners LP is a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tracing its roots to 1940 and running with only about 449 employees. It reports three segments. Water Solutions gathers, treats, recycles and disposes of produced and flowback water generated by oil and gas drilling, operating 91 treatment and disposal facilities with 202 injection wells, most of them in the Delaware Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Crude Oil Logistics buys crude from producers and moves it, anchored by the Grand Mesa Pipeline out of the DJ Basin. Liquids Logistics supplies natural gas liquids and related products. Following divestitures completed in April 2025, which included the refined products business and most of the wholesale propane business plus 17 terminals, the partnership is far more concentrated than it once was: water disposal supplied roughly 91% of segment EBITDA in the June 2026 quarter.

Full NGL guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ARIS drivers: The Marmato Lower Mine plant coming online; Segovia throughput and grade.
• NGL drivers: Permian produced-water volumes under long contracts; Raised fiscal 2027 guidance and growth spending.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Concentration is the defining risk: essentially all current production is in Colombia, which brings permitting delays, community and security issues, informal and illegal mining activity around the titles, tax and royalty changes, and peso volatility. For NGL, financial risk dominates here: long-term debt sits near $3.3 billion against about $5 million of cash, interest expense ran roughly $257 million in fiscal 2026, and total partners' capital is a deficit of about $237 million, meaning book equity is negative.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick ARIS if you believe its drivers more; NGL if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ARIS and NGL guides.

ARIS. The valuation is built on earnings that inflected sharply: full-year 2025 net income was roughly $78 million and the trailing twelve month figure is roughly $285 million, so the trailing multiple is measuring a very recent step change rather than a settled run rate. A forward P/E near 7 and EV/EBITDA near 5 sit below where larger, more geographically diversified gold producers typically trade, which is the market pricing Colombian concentration and construction risk. The company pays no dividend and is directing cash into the Marmato build.

NGL. Because the trailing twelve months carry a net loss of roughly $132 million and book equity is negative, price-to-earnings and price-to-book are not usable for NGL, and enterprise value to EBITDA does the work instead. At an enterprise value near $6.2 billion against guided fiscal 2027 Adjusted EBITDA of about $730 million, the units trade near 8.5 times, a multiple that sits between traditional crude midstream partnerships and the higher-growth Permian water names. The wide gap between the ~$2.3 billion equity value and the ~$6.2 billion enterprise value is the point to hold onto: most of the capital structure sits ahead of the common units.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): ARIS shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.27 billion, net income (ttm) ~$285 million, EPS ~$1.38, market cap ~$3.6 billion, p/e (trailing / forward) ~12.6 / ~7.0; NGL shows revenue (ttm) ~$3.5B (continuing operations), adjusted ebitda ~$660M in FY2026; FY2027 guidance raised to ~$725M to ~$735M, q1 fy2027 (quarter ended june 2026) Revenue ~$990M, Adjusted EBITDA ~$186M, net income ~$79M, market cap ~$2.3B on ~124.8M common units.

ARIS and NGL are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ARIS and NGL exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.