SHEL 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: YPF 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. SHEL 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 SHEL 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.

Shell plc is one of the largest integrated energy companies in the world, operating across the entire hydrocarbon value chain and into lower-carbon energy. Its business is organized into segments that include Integrated Gas (including its world-leading liquefied natural gas, or LNG, business), Upstream (oil and gas exploration and production), Marketing (fuels retail, lubricants, and related products), Chemicals and Products (refining and petrochemicals), and Renewables and Energy Solutions (power, hydrogen, and lower-carbon offerings). SHEL trades on the New York Stock Exchange as an American Depositary Receipt, with each ADR representing two Shell ordinary shares.

Full SHEL 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.

• SHEL drivers: LNG and Integrated Gas leadership; Shareholder returns: dividend and buybacks.
• 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: As an integrated energy major, Shell's earnings rise and fall with oil, gas, and LNG prices and with refining and chemical margins, so a downturn in commodity prices or global demand can compress profits and pressure cash returns. 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 SHEL 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 SHEL and YPF guides.

SHEL. These figures are approximate and tied to the asOf date; verify live numbers before acting. Because each SHEL ADR represents two Shell ordinary shares, per-ADR dividend and earnings figures are roughly double the per-ordinary-share numbers you may see quoted from London or the Netherlands, so make sure you are comparing like for like. As with any integrated energy company, earnings and multiples move with the commodity cycle, so a given quarter's results reflect prevailing oil, gas, and margin conditions rather than a fixed run-rate.

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, Jul 2026): SHEL shows q1 2026 eps ~$2.44, above the analyst consensus of about $2.14, q1 2026 revenue ~$70 billion for the quarter, dividend Progressive quarterly dividend; the ADR receives roughly double the per-ordinary-share amount (each ADR is two ordinary shares), payout ratio Roughly half of earnings historically, leaving room for buybacks; 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).

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