(NYSE: CVX) is offering dividend investors a 3.6% dividend yield today. Pioneer Natural Resources' (NYSE: PXD) yield is a far more attractive 7.4%. One of these energy stocks is a great option for income investors; the other is probably best seen as a hedge against rising oil and natural gas prices. yield alone won't tell you what you need to know.

If you are an income investor, you'll probably find Pioneer's 7.4% yield way more attractive than Chevron's 3.6%. But it would be a mistake for you to buy the higher yield here based on yield alone. To understand why, you have to step back and examine exactly what Pioneer does and how it has designed its dividend.

Pioneer is an onshore U.S. energy producer drilling for oil and natural gas. It has no other material operations, so its results are driven by the prices of the energy commodities it produces. That makes its business highly volatile because energy prices are prone to dramatic and sometimes swift price changes.

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Source Fool.com