# How Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (PBR-A) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/pbr-a
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on PBR-A alone. It places PBR-A (Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras) against 17 popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where PBR-A stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: PBR-A's full trading record, from February 2001 through September 2026. The crash tests reach back to 2000 using older funds and the S&P 500. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** PBR-A has run far ahead of the market, rising 47.0% over the past 3 months against 3.9% for the S&P 500 and 3.2% for the Nasdaq 100.
- **Stock or market?:** PBR-A's 47.0% gain over the past 3 months far outran its industry: the integrated oil & gas ETF XLE (State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF) rose 18.0%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%. Last month cut against the tape: PBR-A rose 23.3% while the S&P 500 fell 0.6%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** Over the past year, PBR-A rose 130% against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. The same gap shows up over 3 years (133% against 89.3%). Even so, PBR-A led its integrated oil & gas peers in 2023, then fell behind PBR (Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras) in 2025.
- **Long term:** PBR-A turned $10,000 into $86,800 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. PBR-A's 10-year return of 768% puts it ahead of 93% of the stocks worth at least $300 million with that much history. The S&P 500 returned 321%.
- **In a crash:** Across six sell-offs, PBR-A has typically fallen 2.2 times as far as the S&P 500.
- **Diversification:** PBR-A is a real diversifier: a correlation of 0.18 with the S&P 500 over 5 years and 0.18 with the total US market, less closely than 88% of stocks worth at least $300 million.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** VLO (Valero Energy) was ahead of PBR-A in most short and long periods.
  - **Nearby categories and themes:** INSW (International Seaways, oil & gas) earned more than PBR-A over the past 5 years with similar volatility: 56.5% a year at 40.5% volatility, against 51.8% a year at 37.5%.
  - **Whole market:** Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than PBR-A with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## How much would $10,000 in PBR-A have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in PBR-A over the past 25 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of PBR-A over the same span and PBR-A's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in PBR-A at the end of September 2001 would have grown to $261,250 by September 2026, more than the $114,557 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of PBR-A, and FIX finished highest, at $6,834,667.

## PBR-A at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- PBR-A's deepest decline since it began trading in 2001 was 96.0%, from May 2008 to January 2016. It took about eight years from the low to climb back to its old high.
- PBR-A is trading within 1% of its all-time high.
- Over 24 full calendar years, PBR-A's best was 2016, when it returned 159%, and its worst was 2008, when it lost 55.4%. It lost money in ten of those years.

- Type: Stock, Energy (Oil & Gas Integrated)
- Trading since: February 22, 2001
- Market value: $157B
- Volatility (5 years): 37.5%; Sharpe ratio: 1.31
- Worst decline ever: −96.0%, from May 21, 2008 to January 25, 2016; back at its high by February 16, 2024

| Period | PBR-A total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | +23.3% |
| 3 months | +47.0% |
| 6 months | +30.3% |
| year to date | +117% |
| 1 year | +130% |
| 3 years | +133% |
| 5 years | +705% |
| 10 years | +768% |

## PBR-A against the whole market

Where PBR-A ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does PBR-A rank among all stocks?

This section ranks PBR-A on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- On return for the risk taken (the Sharpe ratio), PBR-A ranks in the top 1% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million.

| Measure | PBR-A | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +130% | 107 of 3,287 (top 4%) |
| 3-year return | +133% | 690 of 3,017 (top 23%) |
| 5-year return | +705% | 41 of 2,893 (top 2%) |
| 10-year return | +768% | 165 of 2,202 (top 8%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 37.5% | 1,301 of 2,893 (top 45%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 1.31 | 11 of 2,893 (top 1%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −71.7% | 1,340 of 2,187 (top 62%) |

### What has beaten PBR-A on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- None of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than PBR-A over the past 5 years with less volatility: nothing sits in the green region.

### Is there a better investment than PBR-A?

The table below lists investments that beat PBR-A over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Among PBR-A's popular alternatives, VLO was ahead of PBR-A in most short and long periods.
- Looking beyond its popular alternatives, INSW (oil & gas) earned more than PBR-A over the past 5 years with similar volatility: 56.5% a year at 40.5% volatility, against 51.8% a year at 37.5%.
- Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than PBR-A with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## PBR-A against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against PBR-A, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do PBR-A's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- None of the 17 popular alternatives earned more than PBR-A over the past 5 years with smaller price swings, so every higher return on the map came with a bumpier ride.
- Over the past 5 years, PBR-A returned 51.8% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (37.5% against 17.1%).

### Has PBR-A consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares PBR-A with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- Only one of the 17 popular alternatives, VLO, outperformed PBR-A in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of PBR-A | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PBR-A: Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (this page) | +130% | +133% | +705% | +768% |  |  | 1.31 |
| [VLO](https://easycompare.io/research/vlo): Valero Energy Corporation | +176% | +259% | +524% | +1,061% | 3/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term | consistent | 1.18 |
| YPF: YPF Sociedad Anónima | +102% | +313% | +971% | +173% | 0/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 1.14 |
| [SU](https://easycompare.io/research/su): Suncor Energy Inc. | +111% | +161% | +318% | +295% | 0/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 1.05 |
| [PBR](https://easycompare.io/research/pbr): Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras | +140% | +132% | +667% | +674% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.28 |
| EC: Ecopetrol S.A. | +112% | +116% | +129% | +401% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.63 |
| [CVE](https://easycompare.io/research/cve): Cenovus Energy Inc. | +101% | +76.2% | +225% | +163% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.80 |
| [EQNR](https://easycompare.io/research/eqnr): Equinor ASA | +107% | +73.2% | +141% | +416% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.69 |
| [E](https://easycompare.io/research/e): Eni S.p.A. | +77.9% | +120% | +181% | +278% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.94 |
| [BKR](https://easycompare.io/research/bkr): Baker Hughes Company | +22.1% | +70.1% | +146% | +248% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.70 |
| [CVX](https://easycompare.io/research/cvx): Chevron Corporation | +51.9% | +53.4% | +144% | +238% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.84 |
| [TTE](https://easycompare.io/research/tte): TotalEnergies SE | +55.2% | +60.5% | +129% | +234% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.78 |
| [SHEL](https://easycompare.io/research/shel): Shell plc | +50.3% | +77.1% | +159% | +233% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.90 |
| [XOM](https://easycompare.io/research/xom): Exxonmobil Holdings Corporation | +62.4% | +76.7% | +232% | +214% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.04 |
| [BP](https://easycompare.io/research/bp): BP p.l.c. | +56.3% | +46.5% | +110% | +141% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.66 |
| [OXY](https://easycompare.io/research/oxy): Occidental Petroleum Corporation | +56.4% | +2.0% | +103% | +11.6% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.56 |
| HAL: Halliburton Company | +51.5% | −14.7% | +39.8% | −17.1% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.37 |
| [SLB](https://easycompare.io/research/slb): Slb N.V. | +53.2% | −7.2% | +60.7% | −21.3% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.44 |

### How did PBR-A do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 2002, along with where PBR-A ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- PBR-A finished ahead of the S&P 500 in 11 of its 24 full calendar years, and behind it in each of the last two.
- Among its popular alternatives, CVE came out ahead of PBR-A most often, in ten of the 16 years both traded.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, PBR-A finished in the top quarter in ten of 24 years and in the bottom quarter in eight. In 2025, it ranked 14 of 18.

| Year | PBR-A | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +6.3% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | −5.1% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +113% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | +54.4% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +12.8% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | −25.8% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +32.4% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | +23.2% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +11.5% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +159% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How PBR-A has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were PBR-A's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In all five of PBR-A's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: PBR-A fell 96.0% from May 2008 to January 2016, while the S&P 500 rose 58.5%.
- The slowest recovery came after PBR-A fell 96.0% from May 2008 to January 2016; it did not regain that peak until February 2024, eight years later.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −96.0% | May 21, 2008 | January 25, 2016 | February 16, 2024 | +58.5% | 2008 financial crisis |
| −67.8% | February 27, 2001 | October 16, 2002 | December 22, 2003 | −29.9% | dot-com bust |
| −32.6% | May 9, 2006 | June 13, 2006 | December 27, 2006 | −7.6% |  |
| −32.0% | April 12, 2004 | May 21, 2004 | September 21, 2004 | −4.4% |  |
| −27.0% | July 23, 2007 | August 16, 2007 | September 21, 2007 | −7.7% |  |

### How did PBR-A do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far PBR-A, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- PBR-A fell further than the S&P 500 in eight of the nine crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2015 China and oil sell-off, when PBR-A fell 65.8% and the S&P 500 fell 12.8%.
- Among its popular alternatives, CVX held up best, falling less than PBR-A in all nine crashes they both traded through.
- PBR-A began trading after the dot-com bust, but 13 of its popular alternatives lived through it. The mildest fall among them was E's 22.9%, against 47.5% for the S&P 500.

| Crash | Dates | PBR-A fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | not trading | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −80.2% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −1.2% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −36.3% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −65.8% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −7.8% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −27.8% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −69.1% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −27.1% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −7.2% | −3.4% |

### How closely does PBR-A move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- None of the 17 popular alternatives with the same record had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than PBR-A's 1.95.
- Over the past 10 years, PBR-A captured 106% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 54% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 0.97. Its share of the market's gains was larger than its share of the losses.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PBR-A: Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (this page) | 106% | 54.0% | 0.97 |
| [VLO](https://easycompare.io/research/vlo): Valero Energy Corporation | 142% | 114% | 1.31 |
| YPF: YPF Sociedad Anónima | 144% | 206% | 1.58 |
| [SU](https://easycompare.io/research/su): Suncor Energy Inc. | 90.0% | 90.0% | 0.96 |
| [PBR](https://easycompare.io/research/pbr): Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras | 104% | 63.0% | 0.99 |
| EC: Ecopetrol S.A. | 127% | 139% | 1.13 |
| [CVE](https://easycompare.io/research/cve): Cenovus Energy Inc. | 124% | 173% | 1.69 |
| [EQNR](https://easycompare.io/research/eqnr): Equinor ASA | 79.0% | 52.0% | 0.62 |
| [E](https://easycompare.io/research/e): Eni S.p.A. | 79.0% | 69.0% | 0.70 |
| [BKR](https://easycompare.io/research/bkr): Baker Hughes Company | 127% | 160% | 1.37 |
| [CVX](https://easycompare.io/research/cvx): Chevron Corporation | 86.0% | 94.0% | 0.89 |
| [TTE](https://easycompare.io/research/tte): TotalEnergies SE | 69.0% | 57.0% | 0.51 |
| [SHEL](https://easycompare.io/research/shel): Shell plc | 60.0% | 43.0% | 0.45 |
| [XOM](https://easycompare.io/research/xom): Exxonmobil Holdings Corporation | 78.0% | 83.0% | 0.76 |
| [BP](https://easycompare.io/research/bp): BP p.l.c. | 58.0% | 62.0% | 0.51 |
| [OXY](https://easycompare.io/research/oxy): Occidental Petroleum Corporation | 80.0% | 155% | 1.24 |
| HAL: Halliburton Company | 113% | 225% | 1.75 |
| [SLB](https://easycompare.io/research/slb): Slb N.V. | 104% | 212% | 1.54 |

### What diversifies PBR-A?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in PBR-A into SMH would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 16% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+46.7% for PBR-A alone, +47.2% for the mix).
- CAH made money in eight of the ten calendar years in which PBR-A lost money.
- Among large ETFs, LVHI, DXJ and EMLP have moved largely independently of PBR-A over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.40 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.

| Investment | Correlation with PBR-A | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in PBR-A's 10 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | 0.29 | +119% | 11.1% | 1.48 | 1 of 10 |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.21 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 6 of 10 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | 0.40 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 | 3 of 10 |
| HDV: iShares Core High Dividend ETF | 0.35 | +83.3% | 13.0% | 1.00 | 4 of 10 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.06 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 7 of 10 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.14 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 | 6 of 10 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | -0.05 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 6 of 10 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | -0.05 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 | 2 of 10 |

## Common questions

### What was PBR-A's worst drawdown?

PBR-A's deepest decline since it began trading in 2001 was 96.0%, from May 2008 to January 2016. It took about eight years from the low to climb back to its old high.

### What were PBR-A's best and worst years?

Over 24 full calendar years, PBR-A's best year was 2016, when it returned 159%. Its worst was 2008, with a return of -55.4%.

### Is there a better investment than PBR-A?

Among PBR-A's popular alternatives, VLO was ahead of PBR-A in most short and long periods. Looking beyond its popular alternatives, INSW (oil & gas) earned more than PBR-A over the past 5 years with similar volatility: 56.5% a year at 40.5% volatility, against 51.8% a year at 37.5%.

### Is PBR-A more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. PBR-A's volatility over the past 5 years was 37.5%, 2.2 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, PBR-A's return lands within 37.5% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is PBR-A's Sharpe ratio?

PBR-A's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 1.31, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so PBR-A earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is PBR-A with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, PBR-A's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.18 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They are only loosely linked, which makes it a real diversifier next to an index fund. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against PBR-A instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a PBR-A holding.

### What are the best alternatives to PBR-A?

Of the 17 popular alternatives we compared, one outperformed PBR-A in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: VLO.

### Did PBR-A outperform the S&P 500?

PBR-A finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in 11 of 24 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +6.3%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did PBR-A do in stock market crashes?

PBR-A fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in none of the nine major crashes it has traded through, and further in eight. The clearest case was the 2015 China and oil sell-off, when PBR-A fell 65.8% and the S&P 500 fell 12.8%.

### What diversifies PBR-A?

These had a low correlation with PBR-A over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, LVHI (correlation 0.29), DXJ (correlation 0.21) and EMLP (correlation 0.40); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.21), CLS (correlation 0.09) and FIX (correlation 0.04). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [Valero Energy (VLO) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/vlo)
- [Suncor Energy (SU) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/su)
- [Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (PBR) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/pbr)
- [Cenovus Energy (CVE) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/cve)
- [Equinor ASA (EQNR) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/eqnr)
- [Eni S.p.A. (E) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/e)
- [Baker Hughes (BKR) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/bkr)
- [Chevron (CVX) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/cvx)
- [TotalEnergies (TTE) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/tte)
- [Shell (SHEL) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/shel)
- [Exxonmobil (XOM) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/xom)
- [BP p.l.c. (BP) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/bp)

## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/pbr-a
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against PBR-A live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=PBR-A&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research