Sifting through countless of stocks in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Shell plc or ConocoPhillips because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Shell plc and ConocoPhillips compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Shell plc and ConocoPhillips

Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and other Americas. It operates through Integrated Gas; Upstream; Marketing; Chemicals and Products; and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. The company explores for and extracts natural gas to produce liquefied natural gas or convert into gas-to-liquids products; explores for and extracts crude oil and natural gas liquids; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure to deliver gas to market. It is also involved in marketing supplies fuels and lubricants for transport, manufacturing, mining, power generation, agriculture, and construction industries; operates electric vehicle charging and convenience retail; turn crude oil and other feedstocks into products for households, industry, and transport; trades crude oil, oil products, and petrochemicals; and oil sand activities. In addition, the company generates, markets, and trades power from wind, solar and pipeline gas; hydrogen production and marketing; commercial carbon capture and storage hubs; carbon credits and nature-based solutions; and provides heavy-duty LNG-fuelled trucks. Further, it offers base chemicals, including ethylene, propylene, and aromatics, as well as intermediate chemicals, such as styrene monomer, propylene oxide, solvents, linear alpha olefins, detergent alcohols, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, and polyethylene; and sustainable aviation fuel. The company was formerly known as Royal Dutch Shell plc and changed its name to Shell plc in January 2022. Shell plc was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

ConocoPhillips explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and natural gas liquids. The company operates in six segments: Alaska; Lower 48; Canada; Europe, Middle East and North Africa; Asia Pacific; and Other International. The company’s portfolio includes unconventional plays in North America; conventional assets in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; global LNG developments; oil sands assets in Canada; and an inventory of global exploration prospects. It serves in the United States, Canada, China, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and internationally ConocoPhillips was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Latest Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels and Shell plc, ConocoPhillips Stock News

As of January 21, 2026, Shell plc had a $209.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels median of $2.0 million. Shell plc’s stock is down 1.3% in 2026, down 2.1% in the previous five trading days and up 10.63% in the past year.

Currently, Shell plc’s price-earnings ratio is 30.5. Shell plc’s trailing 12-month revenue is $269.1 billion with a 5.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -4.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $6.363 per share for the current fiscal year. Shell plc currently has a 3.9% dividend yield.

As of January 21, 2026, ConocoPhillips had a $120.1 billion market cap, putting it in the 98th percentile of all stocks. ConocoPhillips’s stock is up 2.9% in 2026, down 3.6% in the previous five trading days and down 8.22% in the past year.

Currently, ConocoPhillips’s price-earnings ratio is 13.7. ConocoPhillips’s trailing 12-month revenue is $61.3 billion with a 14.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 14.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $6.282 per share for the current fiscal year. ConocoPhillips currently has a 3.5% dividend yield.

How We Compare Shell plc and ConocoPhillips Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Shell plc and ConocoPhillips’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Shell plc and ConocoPhillips Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Shell plc	SHEL	B
ConocoPhillips	COP	C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Shell plc has a Value Score of 65, which is Value. ConocoPhillips has a Value Score of 54, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: Shell plc

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Shell plc is considered to have better value than ConocoPhillips. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Shell plc could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Shell plc and ConocoPhillips’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Shell plc	SHEL	A
ConocoPhillips	COP	C

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Shell plc has a Quality Score of 83, which is Very Strong. ConocoPhillips has a Quality Score of 59, which is Average.

The Quality Grade Winner: Shell plc

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Shell plc has a better overall quality grade than ConocoPhillips. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Shell plc could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Shell plc and ConocoPhillips’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Shell plc	SHEL	C
ConocoPhillips	COP	C

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Shell plc has a Momentum Score of 48, which is Average. ConocoPhillips has a Momentum Score of 44, which is Average.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Shell plc or ConocoPhillips has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Shell plc or ConocoPhillips is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other Shell plc and ConocoPhillips Grades

In addition to Quality, Value and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Estimate Revisions.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Shell plc and ConocoPhillips pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Shell plc or ConocoPhillips Stock?

Overall, Shell plc stock has a Value Score of 65, Momentum Score of 48 and Quality Score of 83.

ConocoPhillips stock has a Value Score of 54, Momentum Score of 44 and Quality Score of 59.

Comparing Shell plc and ConocoPhillips’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.