PAM vs YPF: 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: PAM 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. PAM and YPF 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 PAM and YPF 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.

Pampa Energía S.A. runs three businesses that feed each other. Upstream, it produces natural gas and, increasingly, shale oil in Neuquén province, where the Rincón de Aranda block in Vaca Muerta has become the growth engine: total output reached a record ~107.5 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in the second quarter of 2026, with crude up ~194% year over year to ~23.4 thousand barrels per day. Downstream and alongside, it owns roughly ~5,500 MW of thermal and wind generating capacity, a petrochemicals arm producing styrene, polystyrene and synthetic rubber, and equity interests in the regulated wires and pipes: half of Citelec, the controlling holder of high-voltage transmission operator Transener, plus a stake in gas transporter TGS through CIESA. Americans do not buy the ordinary shares. They buy ADSs on the NYSE, each one representing 25 Buenos Aires ordinary shares.

Full PAM guide

YPF Sociedad Anonima is Argentina's integrated oil and gas company: it explores and produces crude and natural gas, runs the country's largest refining system, and sells fuel through a nationwide service station network under the YPF brand. The Argentine state holds 51% of the equity, the remainder trades publicly, and the ADRs have been listed on the NYSE since the 1990s. Over the past three years the company has been reshaping itself around unconventional assets, selling or handing back dozens of mature conventional blocks (the Andes divestment program) and pushing capital into Vaca Muerta, where lifting costs in its core shale hub run near $4 per barrel of oil equivalent against roughly $8.8 consolidated. It also holds stakes in midstream and export infrastructure, including the VMOS crude pipeline to an Atlantic terminal, and has signed partnerships with Eni and Shell around a floating LNG project aimed at monetizing Argentine gas for export.

Full YPF guide

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

• PAM drivers: Rincón de Aranda and the shale oil ramp; Gas volumes with captive demand behind them.
• YPF drivers: Vaca Muerta volume growth; Export infrastructure and the shift to dollar revenue.

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: The whole position rests on Argentine macro policy, where currency devaluation and capital controls have repeatedly made it hard for foreign holders to convert local cash flow into dollars at a reasonable rate. For YPF, argentine sovereign and policy risk sits above everything else: the state owns 51%, so board composition, fuel pricing, export permits, and currency access are all subject to the politics of the day, and past administrations have intervened in domestic prices in ways that cut refining margins.

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 PAM if you believe its drivers more; YPF 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 PAM and YPF guides.

PAM. Every figure above is in US dollars because Pampa reports in dollars rather than pesos, with its Argentine equity affiliates inflation-adjusted before consolidation by the equity method. Screeners frequently mangle this company by mixing the ordinary-share count with the ADS price, so the sanity check is that ~1,340 million ordinary shares divided by the 25:1 ratio gives roughly 54 million ADSs. The single-digit earnings multiple is not a screening artefact: it is what Argentine listings have traded at through repeated currency and tariff cycles, and it narrows or widens with politics more than with production.

YPF. On annualized recent EBITDA the enterprise value works out to roughly four times, a level well below US shale independents of similar growth, and the gap is the market's price for Argentine country risk rather than a judgment on the wells. Reported earnings per ADR are noisy because 2025 carried large impairments from the conventional asset exits, so trailing price to earnings ratios on screeners can be misleading in either direction. YPF pays no dividend on the ADRs at present, with cash directed to capex and debt reduction.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): PAM shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.42B (US dollars, Pampa's functional currency), latest quarter (q2 2026) Revenue ~$746M, up ~53% YoY; net income ~$172M, adjusted ebitda (q2 2026) ~$415M, up ~75% YoY, net income / eps (ttm) ~$570M, roughly ~$10.60 per ADS; YPF shows revenue (ttm) ~$19 billion in US dollars (screeners that show Argentine peso figures will look wildly different), adjusted ebitda (q2 2026) ~$2.8 billion, an all-time quarterly record, at ~43% of revenue, net income (q2 2026) ~$1.2 billion, the second highest quarter on record, market cap ~$21 billion (~391 million ADRs, ADR price recently near $50).

PAM and YPF 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 PAM and YPF exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.